The Marauders read a book?
by Szayel's Angel
Summary: Adopted from beeabeeon49,Sirius is in the library for some reason and finds a book called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He decides to read it with Moony and Prongs, using it to make a better future for all of them. Rated T for language. More people will come!
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Prongs! Guess what I found in the library?" Sirius Black bounded into the Gryffindor common room, brandishing a normal looking book, causing people to look at him strangely. They dismissed it quickly; it was just many of the strange things that had happened since the Marauders had started at Hogwarts.

James Potter rolled his eyes. "Well done Pads, you've found a book in the library. What were you expecting? Flying piglets and leprechauns?"

"It's from the future! Look at the publishing date! And it's about Harry Potter! It could be about your son!"

"Whoa Siri, have you been on the sugar?" Remus Lupin had joined the two friends. Sirius pouted.

"Look – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!"

Remus took it. "There's a note here, look." They crowded around him.

_Dear Moony, Padfoot, Prongs,_

_First – Sirius, what the heck where you doing in the library? I wasn't even aware you knew where it was. Wonders never cease._

_Secondly, you are correct; this book is from the future. It is also about James' son, Harry. I would like you to read it, for it may begin a better future. However, there are also a couple of rules that you need to stick to:_

_Do not inform anyone, unless told, about these books, even Peter. This is vital. Also, you may have people joining you later – no bodily harm, hexes or even jinxes will be allowed. Do not read in public places, such as where you are now. Try the Room of Requirement._

_If you decide not to do anything to help, you will be Obliviated. No time will pass once you begin reading. Also MAYBE one of us will show ourselves to read the later chapters but this depends on how well behaved you are (Sirius, James)_

_HJP, RBW, HJG_

Sirius looked up. "I think we should read it."

James pretended to faint. "Paddy is actually suggesting we read a book! What have you done to my friend?"

"Oh, come on you two." Remus was already striding to the open portrait. "Let's get going."

Once they were all seated comfortably inside the Room of Requirement, they stared apprehensively at the book.

"I'll read."

"Of course you will, Moons."

"Oh, shut up."


	2. Chapter 2 The Dark Lord Ascending

"The Dark Lord Ascending," read Remus.

"Well that just spells sunshine and daisies and unicorns," said Sirius, before getting hit in the face with a pillow, courtesy of James.

**The two men appeared out of nowhere**,

"Well they had to come from somewhere," Sirius pointed out plaintively.

"Pads?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

**a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognising each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.**

"**News?" asked the taller of the two.**

**"The best," replied Severus Snape.**

"What? What the HELL is that git doing in MY son's story? I KNEW HE WAS A BLOODY DEATH EATER!" James shouted, not jumping up only because Sirius was holding him down.

"Yes, Prongs, but it may be important to it, he could be a spy to" Remus soothed.

The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly **manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched.**

**"Thought I might be late," said Yaxley**,

"Isn't he that Slytherin seventh year who we pranked once?" asked the wolf, thinking.

"Yeah – we made him declare his love to Professor McGonagall using love potion. Great day that." Sirius grinned, recollecting.

**his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?"**

"I hope they're not talking about who I think..." said Remus, thoughtfully.

James grimaced. "I hope not either but there are not many people we can assume at the moment"

Sirius looked confused. "Who are you talking about?"

The wolf rolled his eyes. "Voldemort, you dope."

Sirius nodded but still looked slightly confused

**Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved with them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of impressive wrought-iron gates barring the men's way.**

"Where'd you think they are?" asked James, highly doubting that Voldemort would live in (as he had deducted from the gate) a highly extravagant manor house.

"Well, it could be Malfoy Manor – Cissy's courting Lucy now, and I've been there more times than I care to count."

Sirius looked up to see the other two staring at him. "What?"

"Well, you actually worked something out – OY!"

James ducked as a pillow flew over his head. The canine looked triumphant. "Continue, Moons."

"Yes, your highness."

"Shut up."

**Neither of them broke step: in silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through as though the dark metal were smoke.**

Sirius looked slightly sick. "That's where the Dark Mark would be."

"Damn." James cursed.

**The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men's footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again, pointing it over his companion's head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure white peacock, strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.**

"Definitely Lucy – he's obsessed with them."

"Tell me Sirius, is that the only type of cock Lucy-Goosey likes?" James snickered, and Remus sighed.

"Shut up and let me read."

"**He always did himself well, Lucius. Peacocks…" Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort.**

"See? I told you so!"

"We never disagreed with you – and besides, a Death Eater agreed with you!"

"Gross!"

**A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond-paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge, a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped towards the front door, which swung inwards at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it.**

"Must be a house elf – they're everywhere!"

"Nah, I think it was magic, Pads. Though judging from what their house is like it wouldn't surprise me." Remus replied.

**The hallway was large, dimly lit and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the walls followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past.**

"Creepy."

"Shut it, Pads or you will be subjected to a tickling hex."

**The two men halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, and then Snape turned the bronze handle**.

All three of them looked apprehensive; trying not to imagine what was on the other side. Remus ploughed on.

The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The room's usual **furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light they were drawn upwards to the strangest feature of the scene: an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope, and reflected in the mirror and the bare, polished surface of the table below. None of the people seated underneath this singular sight was looking at it except for a pale young man almost directly below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upwards every minute or so.**

"Bet that's Malfoy's son. Scaredy cat," James commented. "Mind you, you can't really blame him. Voldemort's not exactly in the best of company."

"**Yaxley. Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very nearly late."**

"How's that possible?" James and Sirius asked in freakish unison. Remus sighed.

"It means that if they were any later he would have been annoyed at them."

The three shuddered at the prospect of a pissed Voldemort but then Sirius said thoughtfully, "I'd love to see Snape piss Voldemort off though." Remus sighed at his friends iron heart.

**The speaker was sitting directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they drew nearer, however, his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snake-like, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale he seemed to emit a pearly glow.**

"So that's what Moldie-Voldie looks like. No wonder Bella's besotted with him – they'd be the hottest couple around."

"I'm concerned Pads. Slightly disturbed as well."

"You know you love me Moons."

Remus hurriedly continued reading.

"**Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right. "Yaxley – beside Dolohov." **

"So the git's his right hand man," James spat out, barely containing his anger. He still didn't understand what the hell this had to do with his son.

**The two men took their allotted places. Most of the eyes around the table followed Snape and it was to him that Voldemort spoke first.**

"I smell love in the air!" Sirius sang (badly).

"Eww Pads – just eww."

"So?"

**"My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall."**

"Why?" James asked nervously. He didn't like the sound of this. "My house is safe enough." And why does he need to be moved? He thought, but did not voice.

**The interest around the table sharpened palpably: some stiffened; others fidgeted, all gazing at Snape and Voldemort.**

**"Saturday… at nightfall," repeated Voldemort. His red eyes fastened on Snape's black ones with such intensity that some of the watchers looked away, apparently fearful that they themselves would be scorched by the ferocity of the gaze. Snape, however, looked calmly back into Voldemort's face and, after a moment or two, Voldemort's lipless mouth curved into something of a smile.**

"That sounds creepy."

The only reason the Sirius got away from this comment was only because Remus was reading, and James was too worried to speak.

**"Good. Very good. And this information comes…"**

**"From the source we discussed," said Snape.**

"A traitor, no doubt."

**"My Lord."**

**Yaxley had leaned forward to look down the long table at Voldemort and Snape. All faces turned to him.**

**"My Lord, I have heard differently."**

**Yaxley waited, but Voldemort did not speak, so he went on, "Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the thirtieth, the night before the boy turns seventeen."**

"What have aurors got to do with this? What's going on?"

Remus bit his lip, as he had just realised something; this however, did not go unnoticed by the other two.

"What?" James was now border lining terrified.

"Well – why does Voldemort want to know this?"

"Crap."

"Exactly."

**Snape was smiling.**

"Creepy sight."

**"My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time, he is known to be susceptible."**

**"I assure you, my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain," said Yaxley.**

**"If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain," said Snape. "I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror Office will play no further part in the protection of Harry Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry." **

**"The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed here and there along **the table.

"How bad has this war got?" asked Remus, interrupting himself. "The Ministry's a huge place – and he infiltrated it all..." He couldn't continue, so just kept reading.

**Voldemort did not laugh. His gaze had wandered upwards, to the body revolving slowly overhead, and he seemed to be lost in thought**.

"I forgot there was a body there. That's just sick." Sirius was looking disgusted.

"We know Sirius, but remember they are called Death Eaters for a reason." James pointed.

**"My Lord," Yaxley went on, "Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy…"**

"He's that important?"

"Must be, I mean if Voldemort's after him – oh, sorry Prongs."

James was now almost hyperventilating, and it took the next five minutes to calm him down.

**Voldemort held up a large, white hand and Yaxley subsided at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape.**

"Why does he even want the respect of a murdering maniac? Whoo – alliteration!"

Shaking his head at Sirius, Remus continued.

**"Where are they going to hide the boy next?"**

**"At the home of one of the Order," said Snape.**

"Yes, but whose?" James snapped, worried, "Be more accurate! I want to know!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "It's good that he didn't tell Voldemort where he was going - then he'd be in more danger.

"Sirius fidgeted. "Quit interrupting, I want to know what happens!"

"Like you're one to speak," Remus mumbled, but he continued reading.

**"The place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking him while he is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."**

**"Well, Yaxley?" Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. "Will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?"**

"Please no," James muttered worriedly.

**Once again, all heads turned. Yaxley squared his shoulders.**

**"My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have – with difficulty, and after great effort – succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse."**

There was an intake of breath. "Shit, shit, shit..." Sirius was murmuring.

James was now beyond being worried. He was terrified. Remus continued reading.

**Many of those sitting around Yaxley looked impressed; his neighbour, Dolohov, a man with a long, twisted face, clapped him on the back.**

Sirius grimaced. It disgusted him to think that people were actually impressed by this activity. Then again, they were all loony's.

**"It is a start," said Voldemort. "But Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way."**

**"Yes – my Lord, that is true – but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact with not only the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy, now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."**

**"As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest," said Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the boy at his destination, then it must be done while he travels."**

**"We are at an advantage there, my Lord," said Yaxley, who seemed determined to receive some portion of approval.**

The group, who had been shocked into silence, snorted as one.

"Who wants approval from that bastard?" James asked, his worry disappearing for a second.

**"We know have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."**

"He won't do that. People aren't that stupid," commented Remus.

"But he's related to Prongs, who is the definition of stupid." Padfoot joked trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"I still want to know why he's moving," pressed James. "Why isn't my house safe enough?"

"I dunno, mate," Sirius grimaced. "C'mon Moons, keep going."

"**He will not do either," said Snape. "The Order is eschewing**

"... the hell does that mean?"

"No idea Pads, I'm not a dictionary. And Remus doesn't look like he's going to answer anytime soon."

**any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust anything to do with the place."**

"And so they should," James growled.

**"All the better," said Voldemort. "He will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."**

**Again, Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on, "I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been to many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors, than his triumphs."**

"What is he talking about?" Sirius whined (a very manly whine, mind you).

**The company round the table watched Voldemort apprehensively, each of them, by his or her expression, afraid that they might be blamed for Harry Potter's continued existence. **

"And why would it be?" Remus asked pointlessly before continuing.

**Voldemort, however, seemed to be speaking to himself than to any of them, still addressing the unconscious body above him. "I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be."**

"No you will not!" James growled fiercely. "Harry is a Potter, and Potters survive. And no one, I repeat no one messes with my son!"

**At these words, seemingly in response to them, a sudden wail sounded, a terrible, drawn-out cry of misery and pain. Many of those at the table looked downwards, startled, for the sound had seemed to issue from below their feet**.

**"Wormtail," said Voldemort**,

"WHO?"

The room's occupants exploded.

"Must be someone with the same surname. Wormy would never, ever be a Death Eater." Remus reasoned hopefully.

**with no change in his quiet, thoughtful tone, and without removing his eyes from the revolving body above, "have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?"**

**"Yes m – my Lord," gasped a small man halfway down the table, who had been sitting so low in his chair that it had appeared, at first glance, to be unoccupied. **

A few anxious looks were passed around. That sounded a lot like Peter, and they had been told to keep him away.

**Now he scrambled from his seat and scurried from the room, leaving nothing behind him but a curious gleam of silver**.

They looked confused, but did not comment.

**"As I was saying," continued Voldemort, looking again at the tense faces of his followers, "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter."**

"He's already got a wand – why would he need another one?" asked James, confusedly.

"Maybe if you let me read you would find out!" Remus muttered, as he was getting rather annoyed at all the interruptions.

**The faces around him displayed nothing but shock; he might have announced that he wanted to borrow one of their arms. **

"He could just want to punish a Death Eater," Sirius suggested, before quailing under Remus' glare.

**"No volunteers?" said Voldemort. "Let's see… Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore."**

"In your face, Lucy!" Sirius crowed, avoiding the glares being sent his way.

**Lucius Malfoy looked up. His skin appeared yellowish and waxy in the firelight and his eyes were sunken and shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.**

"What happened to him?" asked James.

"Askaban by the sound of him."

**"My Lord?"**

**"Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand."**

James and Sirius sniggered, dissolving some of the tension in the room.

**"I…"**

**Malfoy glanced sideways at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long, blonde hair hanging down her back, but beneath the table her slim fingers closed briefly on his wrist. **

"Cissy."

**At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in front of his red eyes, examining it closely.**

"**What is it?"**

"A - wand?" James replied, confused.

"He meant what it's made of," Remus explained.

**"Elm, my Lord," whispered Malfoy**.

"Told you," he said smugly.

"**And the core?"**

**"Dragon – dragon heartstring."**

**"Good," said Voldemort. He drew out his own wand and compared the lengths. **

"Oh for god's sake, grow up you two!" Remus shouted at his two friends, who were convulsing in silent laughter. "I bet you to do that when I went to go visit my parents."

James and Sirius exchanged horrified looks at this.

**Lucius Malfoy made an involuntary movement; for a fraction of a second, it seemed he expected to receive Voldemort's wand in exchange for his own. The gesture was not missed by Voldemort, whose eyes widened maliciously**.

"Oh dear..." Sirius mocked.

"**Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?"**

**Some of the throng sniggered.**

As did two-thirds of the room.

**"I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you are your family seem less than happy of late… what is it about my presence in your home that displeases you, Lucius?" **

"Um, isn't it obvious? Who would want you living in their house?"

Remus grinned. "Pads, you're talking to a book."

**"Nothing – nothing, my Lord!"**

**"Such lies, Lucius…"**

"Yeah Lucy, don't lie!" Sirius scolded mockingly.

"He would be tortured if he told the truth," Remus told him sternly.

"He would be tortured if he lied as well," was the stubborn reply. "He might as well just tell the truth."

**The soft voice seemed to hiss on even after the cruel mouth had stopped moving. One or two of the wizards barely repressed a shudder as the hissing grew louder; something heavy could be heard sliding across the floor beneath the table.**

James snickered. "I wonder if it ran over anyone's toes."

**The huge snake emerged to climb slowly up Voldemort's chair. It rose, seemingly endlessly, and came to rest across Voldemort's shoulders: its neck the thickness of a man's thigh: its eyes, with vertical slits for pupils, unblinking. Voldemort stoked the creature absently with long, thin fingers, still looking at Lucius Malfoy.**

"That snake seems to be the only thing Voldemort cares about," Remus commented, thoughtfully.

**"Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"**

**"Of course, my Lord," said Lucius Malfoy. His hand shook as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "We did desire it – we do."**

The three marauders noticed his mistake, and furrowed their eyebrows.

**To Malfoy's left, his wife made an odd, stiff nod, her eyes averted from Voldemort and the snake. To his right, his son Draco, who had been gazing up an the inert body overhead, glanced quickly at Voldemort and away again, terrified to make eye contact. **

**"My Lord," said a dark woman halfway down the table, her voice constricted with emotion, "it is an honour to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."**

Sirius looked disgusted. "Bellatrix," he spat.

**She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in her bearing and demeanour; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix leaned towards Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness**.

"Ew," was the common response.

**"No higher pleasure," repeated Voldemort, his head tilted a little to one side as he considered Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."**

**Her face flooded with colour; her eyes welled with tears of delight.**

**"My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!"**

**"No higher pleasure… even compared to the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?"**

The occupants of the room raised their eyebrows.

**She stared at him, her lips parted, evidently confused. "I don't know what you mean, my Lord."**

"Neither do we," said Sirius, who immediately looked disgusted at agreeing with his Death Eater cousin.

**"I am talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She just married the werewolf, Remus Lupin. You must be so proud."**

There was silence. "Moony! We're family!" Sirius cried jubilantly.

"You married Nymphie?" asked James, snorting. "She's like, five!"

Remus had gone bright red. To spare himself from too much humiliation, he hurriedly continued reading.

**There was an eruption of jeering laughter from around the table. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful looks; a few thumped the table with their fists. The great snake, disliking the disturbance, opened its mouth wide and hissed angrily, but the Death Eaters did not hear it, so jubilant were they at Bellatrix and the Malfoys' humiliation. Bellatrix's face, so recently flushed with happiness, had turned an ugly, blotchy red.**

"Well done Moony, you have successfully annoyed Bella!" Sirius congratulated. "I would have married Nymphie if it pissed her off enough, but incest is kind of icky."

**"She is no niece of ours, my Lord," she cried over the outpouring of mirth. "We – Narcissa and I – have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries."**

The laughter vanished, and the room was full of growls.

**"What say you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, and though his voice was quiet, it carried clearly through the catcalls and jeers. "Will you babysit the cubs?"**

"Hell no," Sirius muttered.

**The hilarity mounted; Draco Malfoy looked in terror at his father, who was staring down into his own lap, then caught his mother's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the opposite wall**.

"What's so interesting about a wall?" asked James, but he was immediately hushed by the other two.

**"Enough," said Voldemort, stroking the angry snake. "Enough." And the laughter died at once.**

**"Many of our older family trees become a little diseased over time," he said, as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring. "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."**

**"Yes, my Lord," whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. "At the first chance!"**

"Bitch," both James and Sirius growled.

"**You shall have it," said Voldemort. "And in your family, so in the world… we shall away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain…"**

"What does that even mean?" asked Sirius.

"Just sounds like a lot of old waffle to me," replied James.

**Voldemort raised Lucius Malfoy's wand, pointed it directly at the slowly revolving figure over the table and gave it a tiny flick. The figure came to life with a groan and began fighting against invisible bonds. "Do you recognise our guest, Severus?" asked Voldemort.**

**Snape raised his eyes to the upside-down face. All of the Death Eaters were looking up at the captive now, as though they had been given permission to show curiosity. As she revolved to face the firelight, the woman said, in a cracked and terrified voice, "Severus! Help me!"**

"Help her Snivellus!" Sirius and James both cried.

**"Ah, yes," said Snape, as the prisoner turned slowly away** **again.**

**"And you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, stroking the snake's snout with his wand-free hand. Draco shook his head jerkily. Now that the woman had woken, he seemed unable to look at her anymore. "But you would not have taken her classes," said Voldemort. "For those of you who do not know, we are joined here by Charity Burbage who, until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."**

"What? No – she's nice!" said Remus, before gritting his teeth and continuing.

**There were small noises of comprehension around the table. A broad, hunched woman with pointy teeth cackled. "Yes… Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles… how they are not so different from us…"**

"They're not!" insisted James.

**One of the Death Eaters spat on the floor. Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape again. **"**Severus… please… please…"**

"**Silence," said Voldemort, with another twitch of Malfoy's wand, and Charity fell silent as if gagged. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defence of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the pure-bloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance… she would have us all mate with Muggles… or no doubt, werewolves…"**

"There's nothing wrong with werewolves," growled Sirius fiercely, causing the werewolf to smile gratefully at him.

**Nobody laughed this time: there was no mistaking the anger and contempt in Voldemort's voice. For the third time, Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape. Tears were pouring from her eyes into her hair. Snape looked back at her, quite impassive, as she turned slowly away from him again.**

**"Avada Kedavra."**

**The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. Charity fell, with a resounding crash, on the table below, which trembled and creaked. Several of the Death Eaters leapt back in their chairs. Draco fell out of his on to the floor.**

**"Dinner, Nagini," said Voldemort softly, as the great snake swayed and slithered from his shoulders on to the polished wood.**

All three looked like they were going to be sick.

"Who wants to read next?" asked Remus, holding the book out.

"I will," said James, taking it. "I hope this one has my son in it."


	3. Chapter 3 In Memoriam

Hi guys I'm back , I did have all the chapters from Beeabon on my laptop but then my laptop decided to be pissy and now my keyboard doesnt work on it. So I have to go on my familys computer to upload this so I can type up my chapters welll anyway enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I dont own HP and this story wasnt orinally mine but I own it now!

"**In Memoriam**," read James.

"Did someone die?" asked Remus, anxiously.

**Harry was bleeding. **

"Oh noes!" cried Sirius, before quailing under the glares of the other two.

**Clutching his right hand in his left and swearing under his breath, he shouldered open his bedroom door. There was a crunch of breaking china: he had trodden on a cup of cold tea that had been sitting on the floor outside his bedroom door.**

"What was that doing there?" asked James.

**"What the—"**

"Yes, I agree with my son!" exclaimed James.

"Prat," muttered Remus, motioning the 'prat' to read.

**He looked around; the landing of number four, Privet Drive, was deserted.**

**Possibly the cup of tea was Dudley's idea of a clever booby trap. **

"Clever?" snorted Sirius.

**Keeping his bleeding hand elevated, Harry scraped the fragments of the cup together with the other hand and threw them into the already crammed trash bin just visible inside his bedroom door. Then he tramped across to the bathroom to run his finger under the tap.**

**It was stupid, pointless, irritating beyond belief that he still had four days left of being unable to perform magic . . . **

"So he's nearly seventeen?" James said, excited. Then he looked confused. "My son's older than me."

**but he had to admit to himself that this jagged cut in his finger would have defeated him. **

"Death by jagged cut in finger," Sirius said sadly.

**He had never learned how to repair wounds, and now he came to think of it – particularly in light of his immediate plans – this seemed a serious flaw in his magical education. **

"It's really difficult to repair wounds," Remus explained. "It's not something you learn until the very end of seventh year."

"What immediate plans?" asked James at the same time.

**Making a mental note to ask Hermione **

"Hermione?" asked Sirius interestedly.

Remus rolled his eyes at him. "It would say if she was his girlfriend."

**how it was done, he used a large wad of toilet paper to mop up as much of the tea as he could, before returning to his bedroom and slamming the door behind him.**

"Temper, temper," tutted Sirius, ducking a pillow thrown by the irritated father.

**Harry had spent the morning completely emptying his school trunk for the first time since he had packed it six years ago. At the start of the intervening school years, he had merely skimmed off the topmost three quarters of the contents and replaced or updated them, leaving a layer of general debris on the bottom – old quills, desiccated beetle eyes, single socks that no longer fit. Minutes previously, Harry had plunged his hand into this mulch, experienced a stabbing pain the fourth finger of his right hand, **

"That's precise," Remus commented.

**and withdrawn it to see a lot of blood.**

"Ouch," winced James sympathetically.

**He now proceeded a little more cautiously. Kneeling down beside the trunk again, he groped around in the bottom and, after retrieving an old badge that flickered between SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY and POTTER STINKS, **

"Potter _stinks_?" asked James furiously. "Potter don't _stink_ – hey!"

He glared at Sirius who smiled innocently, having wished for the room to cover James in Stinksap.

"One of them does, Prongs," he grinned. "Phew, you do smell."

James turned to his other best friend for help, who rolled his eyes and cast a quick cleaning charm.

**a cracked and worn-out Sneakoscope, and a gold locket inside which a note signed R.A.B. **

"R.A.B?" asked Remus, looking thoughtful. "Any ideas who, guys?"

_Regulus _Sirius thought, but he did not voice his idea.

**had been hidden, he finally discovered the sharp edge that had done the damage.**

**He recognized it at once. It was a two-inch long fragment of the enchanted mirror **

"Whoo – he has an enchanted mirror!" Sirius crowed.

**that his dead **

James trailed off.

"Prongs?" asked Sirius.

James shook his head and gave the book to Remus. Looking confused, the wolf started to read.

**that his dead godfather, Sirius, **

There was a sharp intake of breath and then silence.

Sirius turned as pale as a sheet and stared at the book.

"I'm – dead?" he asked.

"It seems so," Remus croaked, staring at him.

"We can change this," James tried to look confident, but his voice wavered. "That's why we have these books. Give the book back, Moon."

Taking a deep, shuddering breath he continued.

**had given him. Harry laid it aside and felt cautiously around the trunk for the rest, but nothing more remained of his godfather's last gift**

The three of them winced.

**except powdered glass, which clung to the deepest layer of debris like glittering grit.**

**Harry sat up and examined the jagged piece on which he had cut himself, seeing nothing but his own bright green eye reflected back at him. **

"Green eyes?" Sirius asked, grinning.

"What?" James looked up.

Remus grinned as well. "James, who is the one person you would have a son with who has green eyes?"

James gasped and, with renewed vigour, continued to read.

**Then he placed the fragment on top of that morning's ****_Daily Prophet_****, which lay unread on the bed, and attempted to stem the sudden upsurge of bitter memories, the stabs of regret and of longing the discovery of the broken mirror had occasioned, by attacking the rest of the rubbish in the trunk.**

"He's not a very happy bunny, is he?" joked Sirius.

**It took another hour to empty it completely, throw away the useless items, and sort the remainder into piles according to whether or not he would need them from now on. His school and Quidditch robes, cauldron, parchment, quills, and most of his textbooks were piled in a corner, to be left behind.**

"Left behind?" wondered James. "Where's he going?" _And why would Evans let him_ he added silently.

**He wondered what his aunt and uncle would do with them; **

"Aunt and uncle?" asked Remus. "Where are you?"

James shrugged, looking worried.

**burn them in the dead of night, probably, as if they were evidence of some dreadful crime. His muggle clothing, Invisibility Cloak, **

"He's got it!" exclaimed James.

Sirius laughed. "Of course he would Prongs, you would have given it to him."

"Hopefully," muttered Remus grimly.

**potion-making kit, certain books, **

"Not the bookish type then." Sirius snorted at the vague description.

**the photograph album Hagrid had once given him, a stack of letters, and his wand had been repacked into an old rucksack. In a front pocket were the Marauder's Map **

James and Sirius stood up and bowed.

**and the locket with the note signed R.A.B. inside it. The locket was accorded this place of honour not because it was valuable – in all usual senses it was worthless – but because of what it had cost to attain it.**

"I wonder what," Remus mused.

**This left a sizable stack of newspapers sitting on his desk beside his snowy owl, Hedwig; **

Remus raised an eyebrow. "He got that from _A History of Magic_."

**one for each of the days Harry had spent at Privet Drive **

"Privet Drive?" James asked, suddenly. "Why there?"

**this summer. He got up off the floor, stretched, and moved across to his desk. Hedwig made no movement as he began to flick through the newspapers, throwing them onto the rubbish pile one by one. The owl was asleep, or else faking; she was angry with Harry about the limited amount of time she was allowed out of her cage at the moment.**

"An owl with attitude," Sirius snorted.

**As he neared the bottom of the pile of newspapers, Harry slowed down, searching for one particular issue that he knew had arrived shortly after he returned to Privet Drive for the summer; he remembered that there had been a small mention on the front about the resignation of Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts. **

"She didn't resign, she was killed," Remus spat viciously.

**Turning to page ten, he sank into his desk chair and reread the article he had been looking for.**

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE REMEMBERED by Elphias Doge**_

"WHAT?" The voices of three marauders resounded around the room.

"Dumbledore doesn't die!" Sirius argued indignantly.

"Dumbledore dead, Pads dead, maybe I'm dead," here James ignored the other two wincing, "what is wrong with the future?"

_**I met Albus Dumbledore at the age of eleven, on our first day at Hogwarts. **_

Remus looked thoughtful. "Can you imagine Dumbledore as eleven?"

The other two snorted and shook their heads.

_**Our mutual attraction was undoubtedly due to the fact that we both felt ourselves to be outsiders. I had contracted dragon pox shortly before arriving at school, and while I was no longer contagious, my pockmarked visage and greenish hue did not encourage many to approach me. For his part, Albus had arrived at Hogwarts under the burden of unwanted notoriety.**_

_**Scarcely a year previous, his father, Percival, had been convicted of a savage and well-publicized attack upon three young Muggles.**_

"Wait – what?" asked Sirius flabbergasted.

_**Albus never attempted to deny that his father (who would die in Azkaban) had committed this crime; on the contrary, when I plucked up courage to ask him, he assured me he knew his father to be guilty. Beyond that, Dumbledore refused to speak of the sad business, though many attempted to make him do so. Some, indeed, were disposed to praise his father's action and assumed that Albus too was a Muggle-hater. **_

"Dumbledore – a muggle-hater?" James' incredulous remark left them sniggering.

_**They could not have been more mistaken: **_

"True," Remus agreed.

_**As anybody who knew Albus would attest, he never revealed the remotest anti-Muggle tendency. Indeed, his determined support for Muggle rights gained him many enemies in subsequent years.**_

_**In a matter of months, however, Albus's own fame had begun to eclipse that of his father.**_

_**By the end of his first year he would never again be known as the son of a Muggle-hater, but as nothing more or less than the most brilliant student ever seen at the school.**_

"Not just student," Remus said. "The most brilliant headmaster as well."

The other two didn't disagree.

_**Those of us who were privileged to be his friends benefited from his example, not to mention his help and encouragement, with which he was always generous. He confessed to me in later life that he knew even then that his greatest pleasure lay in teaching.**_

"Even then?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

_**He not only won every prize of note that the school offered, he was soon in regular correspondence with the most notable magical names of the day, including Nicolas Flamel, the celebrated alchemist; Bathilda Bagshot, the noted historian; and Adalbert Waffling, the magical theoretician. Several of his papers found their way into learned publications such as Transfiguration Today Challenges in Charming, and The Practical Potioneer. Dumbledore's future career seemed likely to be meteoric, and the only question that remained was when he would become Minister of Magic. Though it was often predicted in later years that he was on the point of taking the job, however, he never had Ministerial ambitions.**_

"Hogwarts without Dumbledore just wouldn't be the same," James agreed.

_**Three years after we had started at Hogwarts, Albus's brother, Aberforth, arrived at school. They were not alike; Aberforth was never bookish and, unlike Albus, preferred to settle arguments by dueling rather than through reasoned discussion. However, it is quite wrong to suggest, as some have, that the brothers were not friends. They rubbed along as comfortably as two such different boys could do. In fairness to Aberforth, it must be admitted that living in Albus's shadow cannot have been an altogether comfortable experience. Being continually outshone was an occupational hazard of being his friend and cannot have been any more pleasurable as a brother.**_

_**When Albus and I left Hogwarts we intended to take the then-traditional tour of the world together, visiting and observing foreign wizards, before pursuing our separate careers. However, tragedy intervened. On the very eve of our trip, Albus's mother, Kendra, died, leaving Albus the head, and sole breadwinner, of the family. I postponed my departure long enough to pay my respects at Kendra's funeral, then left for what was now to be a solitary journey. With a younger brother and sister to care for, and little gold left to them, there could no longer be any question of Albus accompanying me.**_

"That's bad," said Remus sympathetically.

_**That was the period of our lives when we had least contact. I wrote Albus, describing, perhaps insensitively, the wonders of my journey, from narrow escapes from chimaeras in Greece to the experiments of the Egyptian alchemists. His letters told me little of his day-to-day life, which I guessed to be frustratingly dull for such a brilliant wizard. Immersed in my own experiences, it was with horror that I heard, toward the end of my year's travels, that yet another tragedy had struck the Dumbledores: the death of his sister, Ariana.**_

"First his mother, then his sister? He's not doing very well, is he?" commented James.

_**Though Ariana had been in poor health for a long time, the blow, coming so soon after the loss of their mother, had a profound effect on both of her brothers. **_

"That's what I meant," James agreed, then continued reading.

_**Those closest to Albus – and I count myself one of that lucky number – agree that Ariana's death, and Albus's feeling of personal responsibility for it (though, of course, he was guiltless), left their mark upon him forevermore.**_

_**I returned home to find a young man who had experienced a much older person's suffering. Albus was more reserved than before, and much less light-hearted. To add to his misery, the loss of Ariana had led, not to a renewed closeness between Albus and Aberforth, but to an estrangement. (In time this would lift – in later years they re-established, if not a close relationship, then certainly a cordial one.) However, he rarely spoke of his parents or of Ariana from then on, and his friends learned not to mention them.**_

"That's probably why we never knew he had a sister," Sirius deduced.

**_Other quills will describe of the triumphs of the following years. Dumbledore's innumerable contributions to the store of Wizarding knowledge, including his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, will benefit generations to come, as will the wisdom he displayed in the many judgments he made while Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. They say, still, that no Wizarding duel every matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945. Those who witnessed it have written_****_of the horror and the awe they felt as they watched these two extraordinary wizards do battle._**

_**Dumbledore's triumph, and its consequences for the Wizarding world, are considered a turning point in magical history to match the introduction of the International Statute of Secrecy or the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.**_

_**Albus Dumbledore was never proud or vain; he could find something of value in anyone, however apparently insignificant or wretched, and I believe that his early losses endowed him with great humanity and sympathy. I shall miss his friendship more than I can say, but my loss is as nothing compared to the Wizarding worlds. That he was the most inspiring and the best loved of all Hogwarts headmasters cannot be in question. He died as he lived: working always for he greater good and, to his last hour, as willing to stretch out a hand to a small boy with dragon pox as he was on the day that I met him.**_

"I still can't believe he's dead," said Remus, staring at the book.

**Harry finished reading but continued to gaze at the picture accompanying the obituary. Dumbledore was wearing his familiar kindly smile, but as he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles, he gave the impression, even in newsprint, of X-raying Harry, whose sadness mingled with a sense of humiliation.**

"I know the look," Sirius agreed.

**He had thought he knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary he had been forced to recognize that he had barely known him at all. Never once had he imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Harry had known him, venerable and silver-haired and old.**

"I know, son," James nodded, not noticing the other two's snorts from him using the word 'son' at sixteen.

**The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt.**

"A what?" asked Remus.

"If you don't know, how the hell are we supposed to?" Sirius responded incredulously.

**He had never thought to ask Dumbledore about his past. No doubt it would have felt strange, impertinent even, but after all, it had been common knowledge that Dumbledore had taken part in that legendary duel with Grindelwald, and Harry had not thought to ask Dumbledore what that had been like, nor about any of his other famous achievements. **

"How well did they know each other, then?" asked James, for it sounded like Harry had talked to Dumbledore on a regular basis.

**No, they had always discussed Harry, Harry's past, Harry's future, Harry's plans . . . and it seemed to Harry now, despite the fact that his future was so dangerous and so uncertain, **

"That it is," James nodded, casting his mind back to the first chapter.

**that he had failed to ask Dumbledore more about himself, **

"Well, neither have we," Sirius consoled the book, causing raised eyebrows.

**even though the only personal question he had ever asked his headmaster was also the only one he suspected that Dumbledore had not answered honestly:**

_**"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"**_

_**"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks."**_

"Um, what?" asked Remus, confused.

"Just ignore it," advised James.

**After several minutes' thought, Harry tore the obituary out of the Prophet, folded it carefully, and tucked it inside the first volume of ****_Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts._**** Then he threw the rest of the newspaper onto the rubbish pile and turned to face the room. It was much tidier. The only things left out of place were today's Daily Prophet, still lying on the bed, and on top of it, the piece of broken mirror.**

They scowled at the reminder.

**Harry moved across the room, slid the mirror fragment off today's ****_Prophet_****, and unfolded the newspaper. He had merely glanced at the headline when he had taken the rolled-up newspaper from the delivery owl early that morning and thrown it aside, after noting that it said nothing about Voldemort. Harry was sure that the Ministry was leaning on the ****_Prophet_**** to suppress news about Voldemort. **

"It's what they do," agreed Remus, as the Ministry was doing the same thing then.

**It was only now, therefore, that he saw what he had missed.**

**Across the bottom half of the front page a smaller headline was set over a picture of Dumbledore striding along looking harried.**

_**Dumbledore – The Truth At Last?**_

"WHAT?" The three shouted again.

**C****_oming next week, the shocking story of the flawed genius considered by many to be the greatest wizard of his generation. Stripping away the popular mage of serene, silver-bearded wisdom, Rita Skeeter _**

"_Her_?" Sirius snorted in disgust. "That Slytherin bitch who spreads stupid rumours around?"

_**reveals the disturbed childhood, the lawless youth, the life-long feuds, and the guilty secrets that Dumbledore carried to his grave. **_

"Oh, come off it," James muttered furiously.

_**WHY was the man tipped to be Minister of Magic content to remain a mere headmaster? **_

"Because he loved teaching, maybe?" asked Remus sarcastically.

_**WHAT was the real purpose of the secret organization known as the Order of the Phoenix? **_

"To defeat Voldemort?" Sirius followed the example Remus had set.

_**HOW did Dumbledore really meet his end?**_

"I can't answer that one but I'm sure it was nothing that _bitch_ said it is," answered James disgustedly.

_**Rita Skeeter, exclusively interviewed by Betty Braithwaite, page 13, inside, explores the answers to these and many more questions in the explosive new biography, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore.**_

"I hate her." This was said, surprisingly, by Remus.

**Harry ripped open the paper and found page thirteen. **

"No, Harry, burn it or throw it away or flush it down the toilet, I don't really care, just _don't read it_!" Sirius exclaimed.

**The article was topped with a picture showing another familiar face: a woman wearing jewelled glasses with elaborately curled blonde hair, her teeth bared in what was clearly supposed to be a winning smile, wiggling her fingers up at him. Doing his best to ignore this nauseating image, **

"Good one," James grinned.

**Harry read on.**

"No!" Sirius looked annoyed. "Listen to your godfather, Prongslet!"

"Prongslet? Really?" asked Remus.

Snickering, James read on.

_**In person, Rita Skeeter is much warmer and softer than her famously ferocious quill-portraits might suggest. **_

"If you say so," muttered James, before continuing.

_**Greeting me in the hallway of her cosy home, she leads me straight into the kitchen for a cup of tea, a slice of pound cake and, it goes without saying, a steaming vat of freshest gossip.**_

"Yes, gossip," Remus nodded. "Not facts!"

_**"Well, of course Dumbledore is a biographer's dream," says Skeeter. "Such a long, full life. I'm sure my book will be the first of very, very many."**_

"True, yes, but I'm sure hers is the one with the least amount of truth in it," Remus continued.

_**Skeeter was certainly quick off the mark. Her nine-hundred-page book was completed a mere four weeks after Dumbledore's mysterious death in June. I asked her how she managed this superfast feat.**_

"By cobbling together a story with the merest hints of facts in it," the wolf finished, glaring at the other two who were now convulsing in silent laughter.

"Okay, Moon, we get the point," Sirius spluttered after a full minute of laughter and Remus looking annoyed.

_**"Oh, when you've been a journalist as long as I have, working on a deadline is second nature. I knew that the Wizarding world was clamouring for the full story and I wanted to be the first to meet that need."**_

_**I mentioned the recent, widely publicized remarks of Elphias Doge, Special Advisor to the Wizengamot and longstanding friend of Albus Dumbledore's, that "Skeeter's book contains less fact than a Chocolate Frog card."**_

"But a Chocolate Frog card is factual." James looked confused.

"I think he meant that the amount of fact in it is the same as the amount on a Chocolate Frog card. The card is very small and the book was nine hundred pages. The book should really contain more fact than a tiny card," Remus clarified.

_**Skeeter throws back her head and laughs.**_

_**"Darling Dodgy! I remember interviewing him a few years back about merpeople rights, bless him. Completely gaga, seemed to think we were sitting at the bottom of Lake Windermere, kept telling me to watch out for trout."**_

"Shut up," Sirius glared at the book, causing James (who was holding it) to shift uncomfortably.

_**And yet Elphias Doge's accusations of inaccuracy have been echoed in many places. Does Skeeter really feel that four short weeks have been long enough to gain a full picture of Dumbledore's long and extraordinary life?**_

"No, she's basically going to make it all up," James put in.

_**"Oh, my dear," beams Skeeter, rapping me affectionately across the knuckles, **_

"Rapping affectionately across the knuckles?" Remus snorted. "Affectionate indeed."

_**"you know as well as I do how much information can be generated by a fat bag of galleons, a refusal to hear the word 'no', and a nice sharp Quick-Quotes Quill! People were queuing to dish the dirt on Dumbledore anyway. **_

"Not many people want to, and the rest of us don't want to hear your pathetic little stories, you little scumbag," Sirius hissed menacingly.

_**Not everyone thought he was so wonderful, you know – he trod on an awful lot of important toes. **_

"What's his shoe size?" asked James seriously.

_**But old Dodgy Doge can get off his high hippogriff, because I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for, one who has never spoken in public before and who was close to Dumbledore during the most turbulent and disturbing phase of his youth."**_

"Anyone that close to Dumbledore would never speak about him for her," James disagreed.

"Unless they were under Veritaserum," Remus said thoughtfully.

_**The advance publicity of Skeeter's biography has certainly suggested there will be shocks in store for those who believe Dumbledore to have led a blameless life. What were the biggest surprises she uncovered, I ask?**_

_**"Now, come off it, Betty. I'm not giving away all the highlights before anyone's bought the book!" laughs Skeeter. "But I can promise that anyone who still thinks Dumbledore was white as his beard is in for a rude awakening! Let's just say that nobody hearing him rage against You-Know-Who would have dreamed he dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth!**_

"Lies!" Sirius exclaimed crossly.

_**And for the wizard who spent his later years pleading for tolerance, he wasn't exactly broad-minded when he was younger! Yes, Albus Dumbledore had an extremely murky past, not to mention that very fishy family, which he worked so hard to keep hushed up."**_

"Oh just shut up, will you!" James was starting to get very annoyed.

_**I asked whether Skeeter is referring to Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, whose conviction by the Wizengamot for misuse of magic caused a minor scandal fifteen years ago.**_

_**"Oh, Aberforth is just the tip of the dung heap," laughs Skeeter.**_

_**"No, no, I'm talking about much worse than a brother with a fondness for fiddling about with goats, worse even than the Muggle-maiming father – Dumbledore couldn't keep them quiet anyway, they were both charged by the Wizengamot. No, it's the mother and the sister that intrigued me, and a little digging uncovered a positive nest of nastiness – but, as I say, you'll have to wait for chapters nine to twelve for full details. All I can say now is, it's no wonder Dumbledore never talked about how his nose got broken."**_

"Well, would you have ever turned to someone and said 'Do you want to know how my nose got broken?'" Sirius retorted.

_**Family skeletons notwithstanding, does Skeeter deny the brilliance that led to Dumbledore's many magical discoveries?**_

"She had better not," Remus growled warningly.

_**"He had brains," she concedes, "although many now question whether he could really take full credit for all of his supposed achievements. As I reveal in chapter sixteen, Ivor Dillonsby claims he had already discovered eight uses of dragon's blood when Dumbledore 'borrowed' his papers."**_

"Now that's just complete bullshit!" James exclaimed.

_**But the importance of some of Dumbledore's achievements cannot, I venture, be denied. What of his famous defeat of Grindelwald?**_

_**"Oh, now I'm glad you mentioned Grindelwald," says Skeeter with a tantalizing smile. **_

"You walked right into that one, reporter person," Sirius snickered.

"Betty Braithwaite," Remus corrected him.

"How did you remember that?" James asked, awed.

Smiling smugly, Remus motioned him to continue.

_**"I'm afraid those who go dewy-eyed over Dumbledore's spectacular victory must brace themselves for a bombshell – or perhaps a Dungbomb. Very dirty business indeed. All I say is, don't be so sure that there really was the spectacular duel of legend. After they've read my book, people may be forced to conclude that Grindelwald simply conjured a white handkerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly!"**_

_**Skeeter refuses to give anymore on this intriguing subject, so we turn instead to the relationship that will undoubtedly fascinate her readers more than any other.**_

_**"Oh yes," says Skeeter, nodding briskly. I devote an entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship.**_

"That sounds…"

"Bad," James nodded at Sirius. "Really bad."

_**It's been called unhealthy, even sinister. Again, your readers will have to buy my book for the whole story, but there is no question that Dumbledore took an unnatural interest in Potter **_

"And that's really not helping," put in James, grimacing.

_**from the word go. Whether that was really in the best boy's interests – well, well see. It's certainly an open secret that Potter has had a most troubled adolescence."**_

_**I ask whether Skeeter is still in touch with Harry Potter, whom she so famously interviewed last year: a breakthrough piece in which Potter spoke exclusively of his conviction that You-Know-Who had returned.**_

_**"Oh, yes, we've developed a close bond," says Skeeter. "Poor Potter has few real friends, and we met at one of the most testing moments of his life – the Triwizard Tournament.**_

"That was banned ages ago because of the death toll!" Remus exclaimed, shocked.

_**I am probably one of the only people alive who can say that they know the real Harry Potter."**_

The three marauders snorted.

_**Which leads us neatly to the many rumors still circulating about Dumbledore's final hours. Does Skeeter believe that Potter was there when Dumbledore died?**_

_**"Well, I don't want to say too much – it's all in the book – but eyewitnesses inside Hogwarts castle saw Potter running away from the scene moments after Dumbledore fell, jumped, or was pushed. Potter alter gave evidence, against Severus Snape, a man against whom he has a notorious grudge.**_

"Snivellus?" both James and Sirius gaped.

_**Is everything as it seems? That is for the Wizarding community to decide – once they've read my book."**_

_**On that intriguing note, I take my leave. There can be no doubt that Skeeter has quilled an instant bestseller. Dumbledore's legion of admirers, meanwhile, may well be trembling at what is soon to emerge about their hero.**_

**Harry reached the bottom of the article, but continued staring at the page. Revulsion and fury rose in him like vomit; **

"Us too, Prongslet, us too," Harry's godfather agreed.

**he balled up the newspaper and threw it, with all his force, at the wall, where it joined the rest of the rubbish heaped around his overflowing bin.**

"Where it belongs," Remus stated with contempt.

"He should have listened to me in the first place, then we wouldn't have had to listen to that article!" Sirius moaned.

**He began to stride blindly around the room, opening drawers and picking up books only to replace them on the same piles, barely conscious of what he was doing, as random phrases from Rita's article echoed in his head: ****_An entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship . . . It's been called, unhealthy, even sinister . . ._**

"Harry must think it sounds bad, as well," James nodded.

_**He dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth . . . I've had access to a source most journalists would give their wands for . . .**_

**"Lies!" Harry bellowed, and through the window he sat the next-door neighbor, who had paused to restart his lawn mower, look up nervously.**

Sniggers filled the room.

**Harry sat down hard on the bed. The broken bit of mirror danced away from him; he picked it up and turned it over in his fingers, thinking, thinking of Dumbledore and the lies with which Rita Skeeter was defaming him. . . .**

**A flash of brightest blue. **

"What? Harry's eyes are green!" James protested.

"Been paying attention Prongs?" Sirius asked mischievously. "Or did you only remember that because he shares a trait with Evans?"

**Harry froze, his finger slipping on the jagged edge of the mirror again. He had imagined it, he must have done. He glanced over his shoulder, but the wall was the sickly peace colour of his Aunt Petunia's choosing:**

Again James wondered where he was, but since it was the end of the chapter he refrained from commenting.

**there was nothing blue there for the mirror to reflect. He peered into the mirror fragment again, and saw nothing but his own bright green eye looking back at him.**

James congratulated himself on remembering this fact.

**He had imagined it, there was no other explanation; imagined it, because he had been thinking of his dead headmaster. If anything was certain, it was that the bright blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore would never pierce him again.**

There was a sombre silence.

"I'll read," said Sirius, taking the book from his friend and turning the page.


	4. Chapter 4 The Dursleys Departing

"**The Dursleys Departing**," Sirius began.

**The sound of the front door slamming echoed up the stairs and a voice roared, "Oi! You!"**

"That's not you, Prongs," Remus assured him. "You would never talk to your son like that."

**Sixteen years of being addressed thus left Harry in no doubt when his uncle was calling, nevertheless, he did not immediately respond. He was still gazing at the mirror fragment in which, for a split second, he had thought he saw Dumbledore's eye. It was not until his uncle bellowed, "BOY!"**

James frowned. "Okay, seriously guys – where the hell am I?"

"I dunno, Prongs," Sirius replied, starting to fear the worst.

**that Harry got slowly to his feet and headed for the bedroom door, pausing to add the piece of broken mirror to the rucksack filled with things he would be taking with him.**

Nobody commented, even though the mirror seemed useless.

**"You took you time!" roared Vernon Dursley when Harry appeared at the top of the stairs, "Get down here, I want a word!"**

**Harry strolled downstairs, his hands deep in his jeans pockets. **

The occupants of the room snorted.

**When he searched the living room he found all three Dursleys. They were dressed for travelling: Uncle Vernon in a fawn zip-up jacket, Aunt Petunia in a neat, salmon-coloured coat and Dudley, Harry's large, blond, muscular cousin, in his leather jacket.**

"Where are they going?" wondered Remus.

**"Yes?" asked Harry.**

**"Sit down!" said Uncle Vernon. Harry raised his eyebrows. "Please!" added Uncle Vernon, wincing slightly as though the word was sharp in his throat.**

"Well, he's polite," Sirius muttered sarcastically.

**Harry sat. He thought he knew what was coming. His uncle began to pace up and down, Aunt Petunia and Dudley following his movement with anxious expressions. Finally, his large, purple face crumpled with concentration, Uncle Vernon stopped in front of Harry and spoke.**

**"I've changed my mind," he said.**

**"What a surprise," said Harry.**

They all burst out laughing.

"I love my son!" James exclaimed, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, before focusing on Sirius who had began to read again.

**"Don't you take that tone—" began Aunt Petunia in a shrill voice, but Vernon Dursley waved her down.**

"What's with the random use of his full name?" asked Remus pointlessly, causing the other two snigger.

**"It's all a lot of claptrap," said Uncle Vernon, glaring at Harry with piggy little eyes. "I've decided I don't believe a word of it. We're staying put, we're not going anywhere."**

"He's stupid," James concluded.

**Harry looked up at his uncle and felt a mixture of exasperation and amusement. Vernon Dursley had been changing his mind every twenty four hours for the past four weeks, **

"Four weeks?" asked Sirius in disbelief. "I don't start packing my trunk until, like, an hour before we leave!"

"That's what makes you so disorganised," muttered Remus under his breath, but he agreed with his friend.

**packing and unpacking and repacking the car with every change of heart. Harry's favourite moment had been the one when Uncle Vernon, unaware the Dudley had added his dumbbells to his case since the last time it been repacked, had attempted to hoist it back into the boot and collapsed with roars of pain and much swearing.**

"Good favourite moment, Prongslet – thanks for sharing," Sirius was laughing again. He definitely preferred this chapter over the last one.

**"According to you," Vernon Dursley said, now resuming his pacing up and down the living room, "we – Petunia, Dudley, and I – are in danger. From – from –"**

**"Some of 'my lot', right?" said Harry**

"'Our lot?'" James cried indignantly. "Fat walrus."

**"Well I don't believe it," repeated Uncle Vernon, coming to a halt in front of Harry again. "I was awake half the night thinking it all over, and I believe it's a plot to get the house."**

"What the hell?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

**"The house?" repeated Harry. "What house?"**

"The one you're currently in?" asked Remus sardonically.

**"This house!" shrieked Uncle Vernon, the vein in his forehead starting to pulse. "Our house! House prices are skyrocketing around here! You want us out of the way and then you're going to do a bit of hocus pocus and before we know it the deeds will be in your name and –"**

"How stupid are you?" James was working up a temper.

**"Are you out of your mind?" demanded Harry. "A plot to get this house? Are you actually as stupid as you look?"**

"See – Harry agrees with me!" he continued decisively.

**"Don't you dare -!" squealed Aunt Petunia, but again Vernon waved her down.**

"Yes, just listen to your own stupid brain, don't add another to the mix or Harry will explode from an overload of stupid-ness," Sirius grinned, as if he had said something quite clever. The other two decided not to comment.

**"Just in case you've forgotten," said Harry, "I've already got a house, my godfather left me one. **

"I left him a house?" Sirius sounded mildly impressed.

"You left him a house," James confirmed.

**So why would I want this one? All the happy memories?"**

**There was silence. Harry thought he had rather impressed his uncle with this argument.**

**"You claim," said Uncle Vernon, starting to pace yet again, "that this Lord Thing –"**

"Someone should call him that," James sniggered.

"That wouldn't be a very good idea," Remus disagreed, shaking his head, "Unless they want to be tortured to insanity."

**"Voldemort," said Harry impatiently, "and we've been through this about a hundred times already. This isn't a claim, it's a fact. Dumbledore told you last year, **

"Dumbledore?" asked Sirius, furrowing his eyebrows. "Harry must be very important if Dumbledore was involved."

"Of course, he's my son!" James puffed up his chest proudly, not noticing the other two's incredulous snorts.

**and Kingsley and Mr. Weasley –"**

**Vernon Dursley hunched his shoulders angrily, and Harry guessed that his uncle was attempting to ward off recollections of the unannounced visit, a few days into Harry's summer holidays, of two fully grown wizards. The arrival on the doorstep of Kingsley Shacklebolt **

"I like him," Sirius spoke of the Gryffindor Head Boy. "He never gets us in trouble for our pranks."

**and Arthur Weasley had come as a most unpleasant shock to the Dursleys. Harry had to admit, however that as Mr. Weasley had once demolished half of the living room, his reappearance could not have been expected to delight Uncle Vernon.**

"Arthur Weasley demolished half the living room? I like him as well," Sirius added to his previous comment.

"Pads, just get on with reading," James murmured impatiently.

**"—Kingsley and Mr. Weasley explained it all as well," Harry pressed on remorselessly, "Once I'm seventeen, the protective charm that keeps me safe will break, and that exposes you as well as me. The Order is sure Voldemort will target you, whether to torture you to try and find out where I am, or because he thinks by holding you hostage I'd come and try to rescue you."**

**Uncle Vernon's and Harry's eyes met. Harry was sure that in that instant they were both wondering the same thing. **

"Whether he would rescue them?" James guessed.

"If he's anything like you, yes. Noble git," Remus shook his head at James fondly.

**Then Uncle Vernon walked on and Harry resumed, "You've got to go into hiding and the Order wants to help. You're being offered serious protection, the best there is."**

**Uncle Vernon said nothing but continued to pace up and down. Outside, the sun hung low over the privet hedges. The next door neighbour's lawn mower stalled again.**

"Yay – random information that has no relevance to the plot!" Sirius exclaimed sarcastically.

**"I thought there was a Ministry of Magic?" asked Vernon Dursley abruptly.**

The three marauders looked dumbfounded.

"Well, I suppose he still has some hope," James said, surprised.

**"There is," said Harry, surprised.**

**"Well, then, why can't they protect us? It seems to me that, as innocent victims, guilty of nothing more than harbouring a marked man, we ought to qualify for government protection!"**

"No, he has no hope whatsoever," Sirius told James.

**Harry laughed; he could not help himself. It was so very typical of his uncle to put his hopes in the establishment, even within this world that he despised and mistrusted.**

**"You heard what Mr. Weasley and Kingsley said," Harry replied. "We think the Ministry has been infiltrated."**

"It has," Remus said darkly.

**Uncle Vernon strode back to the fireplace and back breathing so strongly that his great, black moustache rippled, his face still purple with concentration.**

"Handsome," Sirius commented.

"Really? He's not really to my taste," James replied.

"Well your taste seems a little off then," Sirius retorted, before bursting into laughter, closely followed by James.

Remus, who had been watching with a slightly amused expression on his face, told Sirius to continue reading.

**"All right," he said, stopping in front of Harry yet again. "All right, let's say for the sake of argument we accept this protection. I still don't see why we can't have that Kingsley bloke."**

"I think everyone like Kingsley," Remus told Sirius, referring to his earlier comment.

**Harry managed not to roll his eyes, but with difficulty. This question had also been addressed half a dozen times.**

**"As I've told you," he said through gritted teeth, "Kingsley is protecting the Mug – I mean, your Prime Minister."**

**"Exactly – he's the best!" said Uncle Vernon, pointing at the blank television screen. **

"Okay – what makes them like Kingsley so much?" asked James. "He's a wizard. I thought they hated us?"

"Maybe it helps that Kingsley didn't blow up their living room," Remus replied.

**The Dursleys had spotted Kingsley on the news, walking along discreetly behind the Muggle Prime Minister as he visited a hospital. **

"So that must be why," James said.

**This, and the fact that Kingsley had mastered the knack of dressing like a Muggle, not to mention a certain reassuring something in his slow, deep voice, had caused the Dursleys to take to Kingsley in a way that they had certainly not done with any other wizard, although it was true that they had never seen him with earring in.**

"Kingsley gets an earring?" Sirius repeated, impressed.

**"Well, he's taken," said Harry. "But Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle are more than up to the job –"**

"Diggle? The hyperactive Hufflepuff that graduated in third year?" James snorted. "Against the Dursleys? Merlin, I have to see that."

**"If we'd even seen CVs…" began Uncle Vernon, but Harry lost patience. Getting to his feet, he advanced on his uncle, now pointing at the TV set himself.**

"That temper sounds like Lily's," put in Remus thoughtfully, watching with interest as James went bright red (from embarrassment or excitement was anyone's guess).

**"These accidents aren't accidents – the crashes and explosions and derailments and whatever else has happened since we last watched the news. People are disappearing and dying and he's behind it – Voldemort. I've told you this over and over again, he kills Muggles for fun. Even the fogs – they're caused by Dementors, and if you can't remember what they are, ask your son!"**

"How would Dudley know about Dementors?" asked Remus, but Sirius hushed him and indicated that the book would tell them.

**Dudley's hands jerked upward to cover his mouth. With his parents' and Harry's eyes upon him, he slowly lowered them again and asked, "There are… more of them?"**

**"More?" laughed Harry. "More than the two that attacked us, you mean? **

"Dementors – attacked Harry?" James asked faintly.

"And Dudley," Remus confirmed, nodding.

"Yeah, but who cares about him?" Sirius asked.

**Of course there are, there are hundreds, maybe thousands by this time, seeing as they feed off fear and despair—"**

"Okay Harry, you've made your point," James told the book.

**"All right, all right," blustered Vernon Dursley. "You've made your point –"**

"Did I just – agree with that…"

"Walrus," Sirius put in helpfully, nodding yes.

**"I hope so," said Harry, "because once I'm seventeen, all of them – Death Eaters, Dementors, maybe even Inferi, which means dead bodies enchanted by a Dark wizard – will be able to find you and will certainly attack you. And if you remember the last time you tried to outrun wizards, I think you'll agree you need help."**

**There was a brief silence in which the distant echo of Hagrid smashing down a wooden front door seemed to reverberate through the intervening years. **

"Okay, I really need to know that story," Sirius snorted. "I don't know how, but I _will _find out."

**Aunt Petunia was looking at Uncle Vernon; Dudley was staring at Harry. Finally Uncle Vernon blurted out, "But what about my work? What about Dudley's school? I don't suppose those things matter to a bunch of layabout wizards –"**

"What's more important? Work and school, or _not dying_?" James asked, frustrated.

**"Don't you understand?" shouted Harry. "****_They will torture and kill you like they did my parents_****!"**

There was silence.

"Well – at least I get to keep you company, eh Pads?" James asked jokingly, albeit slightly tremulously.

"Yeah – Moony, you're all alone mate, sorry," Sirius said, determinedly reminding himself that they would change the future.

_Unless I'm dead too _Remus thought, but he added, "At least I still have Wormy," in a slightly too-bright voice.

**"Dad," said Dudley in a loud voice, "Dad – I'm going with these Order people."**

"So maybe Dudley has some hope, even though I have no idea why with his parents as bad as they are," James reeled off, not caring his sentence hadn't made much sense.

**"Dudley," said Harry, "for the first time in your life, you're talking sense."**

"I agree with you completely," Sirius added, before continuing.

**He knew the battle was won. If Dudley was frightened enough to accept the Order's help, his parents would accompany him. There could be no question of being separated from their Diddykins. **

The room was filled with snorts.

"Diddykins? _Really_?" Remus repeated disbelievingly.

**Harry glanced at the carriage clock on the mantelpiece.**

**"They'll be here in about five minutes," he said, and when none of the Dursleys replied, he left the room. The prospect of parting – probably forever – from his aunt, uncle, and cousin was one that he was able to contemplate quite cheerfully, but there was nevertheless a certain awkwardness in the air. What did you say to one another at the end of sixteen years' solid dislike?**

"Nothing," Sirius put in helpfully. "Or swear a lot – either works."

**Back in his bedroom, Harry fiddled aimlessly with his rucksack, then poked a couple of owl nuts through the bars of Hedwig's cage. They fell with dull thuds to the bottom, where she ignored them.**

**"We're leaving soon, really soon," Harry told her. "And then you'll be able to fly again."**

**The doorbell rang. Harry hesitated, then headed back out of his room and downstairs: it was too much to expect Hestia and Dedalus to cope with the Dursleys on their own.**

"I expect they're grateful," James praised his son.

**"Harry Potter!" squeaked an excited voice, the moment Harry had opened the door; a small man in a mauve top hat that was sweeping him a deep bow. "An honour as ever!"**

**"Thanks, Dedalus," said Harry, bestowing a small and embarrassed smile upon the dark-haired Hestia. "It's really good of you to do this… **

"They don't know _how_ good it is of them to do it, though," Sirius commented. "I don't think they were expecting to have to stay with people _quite _so bad as the Dursleys."

**They're through here, my aunt and uncle and cousin…"**

**"Good day to you, Harry Potter's relatives!" said Dedalus happily, striding into the living room. **

"I'm sure they were delighted to be called that," Remus said sarcastically.

**The Dursleys did not look at all happy to be addressed thus; **

"I didn't think they would," James sniggered.

**Harry half expected another change of mind. Dudley shrank neared to his mother at the sight of the witch and wizard.**

**"I see you are packed and ready. Excellent! The plan, as Harry has told you, is a simple one," said Dedalus, pulling an immense pocket watch out of his waistcoat and examining it. "We shall be leaving before Harry does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house – Harry being still underage, it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest him – we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so before Disapparating to the safe location we have picked out for you. **

"I bet they had no idea about what he was talking about," Sirius contributed.

**You know how to drive, I take it?" He asked Uncle Vernon politely.**

**"Know how to –? Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!" spluttered Uncle Vernon.**

**"Very clever of you, sir, very clever, I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs," said Dedalus. He was clearly under the impression that he was flattering Vernon Dursley, who was visibly losing confidence in the plan with every word Dedalus spoke.**

**"Can't even drive," he muttered under his breath, his moustache rippling indignantly, **

All the occupants in the room made disgusted faces at this comment.

**but fortunately neither Dedalus nor Hestia seemed to hear him.**

"Selective hearing can be very useful," Remus nodded at the book.

**"You, Harry," Dedalus continued, "will wait here for your guard. There has been a little change in the arrangements –"**

**"What d' you mean?" said Harry at once. "I thought Mad-Eye was going to come and take me by Side Along-Apparition?"**

**"Can't do it," said Hestia tersely, "Mad-Eye will explain."**

**The Dursleys, who had listened to all of this with looks of utter incomprehension on their faces, jumped as a loud voice screeched, "****_Hurry up_****!" Harry looked all around the room before realizing the voice had issued from Dedalus's pocket watch.**

**"Quite right, we're operating to a very tight schedule," said Dedalus nodding at his watch **

"He's crazy – he's talking to a watch!" cried Sirius.

"Says the one who talks to the book," Remus murmured.

**and tucking it back into his waistcoat. "We are attempting to time your departure from the house with your family's Disapparition, Harry; thus, the charm breaks at the moment you all head for safety." He turned to the Dursleys. "Well, are we all packed and ready to go?"**

**None of them answered him. Uncle Vernon was still staring, appalled, at the bulge in Dedalus's waistcoat pocket.**

"Guys!" Remus shouted, annoyed, at the other two.

Needless to say, the inappropriate part of their minds had been used, leaving them useless in a fit of (very manly) giggles.

Sighing, Remus snatched the book from Sirius and read loudly over their laughter.

**"Perhaps we should wait outside in the hall, Dedalus," murmured Hestia: she clearly felt that it would be tactless for them to remain the room while Harry and the Dursleys exchanged loving, possibly tearful farewells.**

"No chance," James muttered, finally sobering up.

**"There's no need," Harry muttered, but Uncle Vernon made any further explanation unnecessary by saying loudly, "Well, this is good-bye, then, boy."**

**He swung his right arm upwards to shake Harry's hand, but at the last moment seemed unable to face it, and merely closed his fist and began swinging it backwards and forwards like a metronome.**

"They detest each other so much they can't shake hands?" Remus said, disbelievingly.

The other two frowned, all traces of laughter gone now. It was such an unnatural sight that Remus almost wished they would go back to laughing. Almost.

**"Ready, Diddy?" asked Petunia, fussily checking the clasp of her handbag so as to avoid looking at Harry altogether.**

"That's worse than not being able to shake hands," Sirius said.

**Dudley did not answer, but stood there with his mouth slightly ajar, reminding Harry a little of the giant, Grawp.**

"He's met a giant as well?" James gaped. "What is my son like?"

**"Come along, then," said Uncle Vernon.**

**He had already reached the living room door when Dudley mumbled, "I don't understand."**

"What a surprise," Sirius said spitefully.

**"What don't you understand, Popkin?" asked Aunt Petunia, looking up at her son.**

"Everything," James put in nastily.

**Dudley raised a large, ham like hand to point at Harry.**

**"Why isn't he coming with us?**

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze where they stood, staring at Dudley as though he had just expressed a desire to become a ballerina.**

The group snorted.

"Ah – bad mental pictures!" Sirius groaned after a moment of thought. "Go on Moony, go on before I have to wash my brain out with soap!"

"How's that even possible?" asked James interestedly.

"The Ancient Egyptians used to take peoples' brains out of their noses. Maybe you just stick some soap up your nose and give your brain a thorough washing," Sirius replied thoughtfully.

"You know about the Ancient Egyptians?" Remus asked, shocked.

Sirius nodded. "Anything to annoy my dear old mum. You should see her face when I go around spouting random facts about muggle history."

**"What?" said Uncle Vernon loudly.**

**"Why isn't he coming too?" asked Dudley.**

"He doesn't want to," James replied.

**"Well, he—doesn't want to," said Uncle Vernon, **

"That's the second time you've said the same thing as the walrus!" Sirius crowed.

Remus grinned and joined in. "Mind you, you married sisters. They must have the same taste in men."

"Don't!" James groaned, burying his head under a pillow.

**turning to glare at Harry and adding, "You don't want to, do you?"**

"Is he serious?" James asked incredulously.

"No, I'm – "

"Shut it, Pads."

**"Not in the slightest," said Harry.**

**"There you are," Uncle Vernon told Dudley. "Now come on, we're off."**

**He marched out of the room: they heard the front door open, but Dudley did not move and after a few faltering steps Aunt Petunia stopped too.**

**"What now?" barked Uncle Vernon, reappearing in the doorway.**

They grinned, amused at his impatience.

**It seemed that Dudley was struggling with concepts too difficult to put into words. After several moments of apparently painful internal struggle he said, "But where's he going to go?"**

**Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked at each other. It was clear that Dudley was frightening them. **

"He's frightening me too," James said nervously. "I might have to be nice to the lump when he's born!"

**Hestia Jones broke the silence.**

**"But… surely you know where your nephew is going?" she asked, looking bewildered.**

**"Certainly we know," said Vernon Dursley. "He's off with some of your lot, isn't he? Right, Dudley, let's get in the car, you heard the man, we're in a hurry."**

"Don't say that in front of a witch or wizard," Remus advised him, looking slightly amused.

**Again, Vernon Dursley marched as far as the front door, but Dudley did not follow.**

**"Off with some of ****_our_**** lot?"**

"Told you so," Remus said smugly.

"We never disagreed with you, Remy. Keep on reading," said Sirius, with the air of a responsible (don't make me laugh!) adult trying to soothe a small child.

**Hestia looked outraged. Harry had met this attitude before: witches and wizards seemed stunned that his closest living relatives took so little interest in the famous Harry Potter.**

**"It's fine," Harry assured her. "It doesn't matter, honestly."**

"It does matter, Harry," James told the book seriously. "They should care about you."

**"Doesn't matter?" repeated Hestia, her voice rising ominously. "Don't these people realize what you've been through? What danger you are in? The unique position you hold in the hearts of the anti-Voldemort movement?"**

**"Er – no, they don't," said Harry. "They think I'm a waste of space, actually, but I'm used to –"**

**"I don't think you're a waste of space."**

"Who said that?" James and Sirius both cried, astonished.

**If Harry had not seen Dudley's lips move, he might not have believed it. **

"Dudley, apparently," Remus told them, trying not to snigger at the expression on their faces. It was one of pure, dumb shock.

**As it was, he stared at Dudley for several seconds before accepting that it must have been his cousin who had spoken; for one thing, Dudley had turned red. Harry was embarrassed and astonished himself.**

**"Well... er… thanks, Dudley."**

"Eloquent," snorted Sirius.

**Again, Dudley appeared to grapple with thoughts too unwieldy for expression before mumbling, "You saved my life."**

**"Not really," said Harry. "It was your soul the Dementor would have taken…"**

"Not helping, Harry," Remus said, amused.

**He looked curiously at his cousin. They had had virtually no contact during this summer or last, as Harry had come back to Privet Drive so briefly and kept to his room so much. It now dawned on Harry, however, that the cup of cold tea on which he had trodden that morning might not have been a booby trap at all. Although rather touched, he was nevertheless quite relieved that Dudley appeared to have exhausted his ability to express his feelings. After opening his mouth once or twice more, Dudley subsided into scarlet-faced silence.**

"Awkward moment!" Sirius sang, causing the other two to snort.

**Aunt Petunia burst into tears. Hestia Jones gave her an approving look which changed to outrage as Aunt Petunia ran forward and embraced Dudley rather than Harry.**

**"S-so sweet, Dudders…" she sobbed into his massive chest. "S-such a lovely b-boy… s-saying thank you…"**

"Thank you? He didn't say thank you at all, you stupid – "

"I don't think Lily would appreciate you badmouthing her sister, James," Remus told him, trying not to snicker at his indignant face.

Sirius had no such qualms, and was currently enjoying a hearty laugh.

**"But he hasn't said thank you at all!" said Hestia indignantly. "He only said he didn't think Harry was a waste of space!"**

"Thank you, Hestia!" James said gratefully, not noticing he was talking to a book.

**"Yeah, but coming from Dudley that's like 'I love you,'" said Harry, torn between annoyance and a desire to laugh as Aunt Petunia continued to clutch at Dudley as if he had just saved Harry from a burning building.**

**"Are we going or not?" roared Uncle Vernon, reappearing yet again at the living room door. "I thought we were on a tight schedule!"**

"He really needs to be more patient," Sirius commented.

"Says the king of impatience," Remus retorted back.

"Ah, thanks for calling me a king, Remy!" Sirius all but trilled.

**"Yes – yes, we are," said Dedalus Diggle, who had been watching these exchanges with an air of bemusement and now seemed to pull himself together. "We really must be off. Harry –"**

**He tripped forward and wrung Harry's hand with both of his own.**

**" – good luck. I hope we meet again. The hopes of the wizarding world rest upon your shoulders."**

"No pressure or anything," James laughed.

**"Oh," said Harry, "right. Thanks."**

"Feel the pressure Harry, feel the pressure – OW!"

Sirius glared at a snickering James.

**"Farewell, Harry," said Hestia, also clasping his hand. "Our thoughts go with you."**

**"I hope everything's OK," said Harry, with a glance towards Aunt Petunia and Dudley.**

**"Oh, I'm sure we shall end up the best of chums," said Diggle brightly, waving his hat as he left the room. Hestia followed him.**

"Sure…" Remus said disbelievingly.

**Dudley gently released himself from his mother's clutches and walked towards Harry, who had to repress an urge to threaten him with magic. Then Dudley held out his large, pink hand.**

**"Blimey, Dudley," said Harry over Aunt Petunia's renewed sobs, "did the Dementors blow a different personality into you?"**

**"Dunno," muttered Dudley. "See you, Harry."**

**"Yeah …" said Harry, taking Dudley's hand and shaking it. "Maybe. Take care, Big D."**

"We need to call Dumbledore that," James said suddenly. "Guys, from now on we are calling Dumbledore Big D."

**Dudley nearly smiled, **

"Nearly! He was so close!" Sirius cried dramatically.

**then lumbered from the room. Harry heard his heavy footfalls on the gravelled drive, and then a car door slammed.**

**Aunt Petunia whose face had been buried in her handkerchief looked around at the sound. She did not seem to have expected to find herself alone with Harry. Hastily stowing her wet handkerchief into her pocket she said, "Well – goodbye," and marched towards the door without looking at him.**

"That's friendly," Remus snorted.

**"Goodbye," said Harry.**

"That's surprisingly polite from the offspring of this prat," Sirius noted, nudging James.

"He's the offspring of Lily too," Remus pointed out.

**She stopped and looked back. For a moment Harry had the strangest feeling that she wanted to say something to him; she gave him an odd, tremulous look and seemed to teeter on the edge of speech, but then, with a little jerk of her head, she bustled out of the room after her husband and son.**

"I wonder what she would have said," Remus wondered.

"Can I read the next chapter? You took the book from me halfway through this one," Sirius told Remus, who nodded his assent.

Sirius took the book back and started to read.


	5. Chapter 5 The Seven Potters

"**The Seven Potters**," Sirius read, causing a few eyebrow raises. They were eager to get on with the book, however, so no comments were made.

**Harry ran back upstairs to his bedroom, arriving at the window just in time to see the Dursleys' car swinging out of the drive and off up the road. Dedalus' top hat was visible between Aunt Petunia and Dudley in the backseat. **

"Does that man have no dignity whatsoever?" asked Remus with disbelief.

"Hey – lay off Diggle, he's funny!" Sirius protested.

**The car turned right at the end of Privet Drive, its windows burned scarlet for a moment in the now setting sun, and then it was gone.**

"Bye bye Dursleys!" called James in a jubilant fashion.

**Harry picked up Hedwig's cage, his Firebolt, and his rucksack, gave his unnaturally tidy bedroom **

"I know, bedrooms are always unnatural when you tidy them!" James complained. "They don't seem so much your own place."

**one last sweeping look and then made his ungainly way back downstairs to the hall, where he deposited cage, broomstick, and bag near the foot of the stairs. The light was fading rapidly, the hall full of shadows in the evening light. It felt most strange to stand here in the silence and know that he was about to leave the house for the last time.**

**Long ago, when he had been left alone while the Dursleys went out to enjoy themselves, the hours of solitude had been a rare treat. **

They looked sad that this should be the case.

**Pausing only to sneak something tasty from the fridge, he had rushed upstairs to play on Dudley's computer, or put on the television **

"Okay, what are those?" asked the two ignorant purebloods in the room.

Remus did not deign to answer, so Sirius continued reading.

**and flicked through the channels to his heart's content. It gave him an odd, empty feeling remembering those times; it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost.**

**"Don't you want to take a last look at the place?" he asked Hedwig, who was still sulking with her head under her wing. "We'll never be here again. Don't you want to remember all the good times? **

"What good times?" snorted Sirius.

**I mean, look at this doormat. What memories… **

"James – I'm sorry to break this to you, but your son has gone mad," Remus told his friend solemnly.

"Well, any offspring of you would be completely bonkers – don't glare at me Prongs, it's true!"

James didn't deny it.

**Dudley sobbed on it after I saved him from the Dementors… Turns out he was grateful after all, can you believe it? And last summer, Dumbledore walked through that front door…" **

"Dumbledore came knocking?" James asked, but he did not pursue the topic.

**Harry lost the thread of his thoughts for a moment and Hedwig did nothing to help him retrieve it, **

"Ah, but Prongslet – she is an owl, and though we have many strange creatures in the Wizarding World, talking owls are not among them," Sirius told the book in his 'wise' voice. And by 'wise' I mean borderline stupid.

The other two ignored him.

**but continued to sit with her head under her wing. Harry turned his back on the front door.**

**"And under here, Hedwig-" Harry pulled open a door under the stairs **

Sirius read with some trepidation, bracing himself for whatever was coming next.

**"-is where I used to sleep! **

Silence.

Punctuated by three loud shouts of wrath.

"A CUPBOARD? HE SLEPT IN A DAMN CUPBOARD? IF I SEE THOSE DURSLEYS…" Sirius.

"I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE THEM TO ME, BUT NOT IN MY NORMAL STATE, THOSE… THINGS…" Remus.

But worst of all was James. "MY SON? IN A CUPBOARD? If he had lived with me…" The last words were said in a broken whisper.

The quiet words in comparison to the other two's shouts seemed to calm them all down.

"Those – things?" Sirius asked Remus, shakily. "Is that the best you could come up with?"

"Well I couldn't come up with anything else, because it would insult anyone who was the same."

"Ah," James nodded in agreement, "so we can't call him a walrus anymore…"

"Because it would insult walruses," Sirius agreed, catching on.

**You never knew me then – Blimey, it's small, I'd forgotten…"**

**Harry looked around at the stacked shoes and umbrellas remembering how he used to wake every morning looking up at the underside of the staircase, which was more often than not adorned with a spider or two.**

**Those had been the days before he had known anything about his true identity; before he had found out how his parents had died or **

Everyone shivered at this.

**why such strange things often happened around him. But Harry could still remember the dreams that had dogged him, even in those days: confused dreams involving flashes of green light and once – Uncle Vernon had nearly crashed the car when Harry had recounted it – a flying motorbike…**

"Please let it be mine!"

Sirius had found a motorbike in a muggle store, and was planning to enchant it and make it fly.

**There was a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere nearby. Harry straightened up with a jerk and smacked the top of his head on the low door frame. Pausing only to employ a few of Uncle Vernon's choicest swear words, **

Everyone sniggered a little at this, but they still winced slightly sympathetically. It had happened to each of them every time they had a growth spurt. It hurt – they knew.

**he staggered back into the kitchen, clutching his head and staring out of the window into the back garden.**

**The darkness seemed to be rippling, the air itself quivering. **

"Ominous," Sirius picked up on the sudden change of mood in the room.

**Then, one by one, figures began to pop into sight as their Disillusionment Charms lifted. Dominating the scene was Hagrid, wearing a helmet and goggles and sitting astride an enormous motorbike with a black sidecar attached.**

"So let me get this straight; Harry was thinking about a flying motorbike, and Hagrid just happens to turn up with one?" Remus asked, slightly shocked.

**All around him other people were dismounting from brooms and, in two cases, skeletal, black winged horses. **

"Thestrals," James nodded.

"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious," Sirius retorted, rolling his eyes.

"I was just explaining it!" he cried, slightly defensively.

"Or you were just flaunting your knowledge," Remus muttered to himself.

**Wrenching open the back door, Harry hurtled into their midst. There was a general cry of greeting as Hermione flung her arms around him, Ron clapped him on the back, and Hagrid said, "All righ', Harry? Ready fer the off?"**

**"Definitely," said Harry, beaming around at them all. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"**

"They're your friends," Sirius stuck in, as though that explained everything. In fact, it did.

**"Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."**

**Harry led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia's gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances; **

"I'm sure Petunia would have liked that," Remus said sarcastically.

"We're going to find out what everyone looks like, now," Sirius said, scanning ahead. "It might be interesting."

**Ron, long and lanky; **

"Flattering," Sirius snorted.

"Well, at least he's honest," James replied.

Meanwhile, Remus was desperately hoping that he _wasn't _alive, just so he could escape his description.

**Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait; **

"She was mentioned earlier," said Sirius, scanning back over the chapters. "Yes – seems like she's the brainy one."

**Fred and George, grinning identically; **

"Twins!" James exclaimed excitedly.

**Bill, badly scarred and long - haired; **

"What happened to him?" asked Remus, worried.

**Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; **

"Sounds like – oh, what's his name – that auror, but he doesn't have the eye now…" James thought hard. "Moody! That was it, Alastor Moody."

**Tonks, whose short hair was her favourite shade of bright pink; **

"It's your wife, Moony!" Sirius snickered. "Pink hair? Really?"

**Lupin, **

"Oh, great," Remus muttered, bracing himself for his description.

**greyer, more lined; **

This was too much.

The room was filled with snickers and snorts, which then escalated to full on, hearty laughter. It was not for another five minutes that Sirius could pick up the book, wipe his eyes, and continue reading.

**Fleur, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Kingsley, bald and broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy beady hound's eyes and matted hair. **

"Dung," James muttered. "What the hell is he doing there? He only cares about his own skin, so will be no use in saving Harry's."

**Harry's heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: he felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to strangle the last time they had met.**

"That's nice of you, Harry," said Sirius, with the air of a proud parent.

**"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" he called across the room.**

**"He can get along without me for one night," said Kingsley, "You're more important."**

Remus whistled. "So he must be _really _important then," he noted, impressed.

**"Harry, guess what?" said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring glistened there.**

"Again?" Remus groaned at James and Sirius, who were laughing again. "Okay, I married a five-year-old. Happy now?"

"Very," Sirius hiccoughed, trying to keep a straight face but failing, looking somewhat like a constipated duck.

**"You got married?" Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin.**

"Yes I did, Harry, but these two idiots-" (here Remus glared at them) "-won't shut up about it!"

**"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet."**

**"That's brilliant, congrat-"**

**"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cosy catch-up later," roared Moody **

"Thank you!" Remus cried, relieved.

**over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Harry.**

**"As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. **

"Bye Plan A, I'll miss you!" The underlying tension seemed to have driven Sirius crazy.

**Pius Thicknesse **

"He's got a stupid name," James commented, causing Remus to question the sanity of his two companions.

**has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offence to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. **

"What charm?" asked James, confused.

"Maybe the same charm that keeps you infatuated with her," Remus suggested, not entirely joking.

**What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely."**

**"Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."**

"Wait until he's overage then," Sirius told the book.

**"I don't-"**

**"The Trace, the Trace!" said Mad-Eye impatiently. "The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters."**

"And then you would be in a bit of a pickle," James agreed, nodding his head.

**"We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. **

"That's why they can't wait, Sirius," Remus told his friend in response to his earlier comment.

**In short, Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."**

**Harry could not help but agree with the unknown Thicknesse.**

"Don't give up now, Harry-boy! The Order has a plan, otherwise nobody would be there," James said, slightly condescendingly.

**"So what are we going to do?"**

**"We're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, Thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike."**

"Won't that be dangerous?" asked James, concerned.

"Aw, is Jamesie scared for ickle Harrikins?" Sirius mocked, not caring about the death glares being sent his way.

**Harry could see flaws in this plan; however, he held his tongue to give Mad-Eye the chance to address them.**

"Now that, Prongs, is decidedly not a trait inherited from you," Remus told him truthfully.

"It doesn't seem very Evans-like either," he retorted back. "It could just be a new Potter personality trait not known of before now."

**"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or" –Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen – "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"**

"Yes, and good riddance!" Sirius exclaimed.

**Harry nodded.**

**"So this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen."**

"And that would be bad. Very bad. So bad it goes off the badness scale," James added in.

**"The one thing we've got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn't know we're moving you tonight. We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: they think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. **

"Yeah, but Snivellus told them about what they were actually going to do," Sirius pointed out.

"Damn it!" James cursed.

**However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case. **

"Or a whole squadron intent on killing each and every one of the group," Remus muttered darkly.

"Morbid," Sirius noted cheerfully.

**So, we've given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we're going to hide you, they've all got some connection with the Order: my house, Kingsley's place, Molly's Auntie **

"You know – Moody just doesn't seem the type to say 'auntie'," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Check he's not under Polyjuice, Harry!" Oh, the sort-of-irony.

**Muriel's – you get the idea."**

**"Yeah," said Harry, not entirely truthfully, because he could still spot a gaping hole in the plan.**

"The Order's not that stupid, young Harry!" James announced, puffing out his chest.

"He's not that young, James, he's only a couple of months younger than you."

**"You'll be going to Tonks' parents. **

"Your in-laws, Remus!" Sirius cried, him and James bursting into laughter again.

"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" Remus muttered, burying his head in his hands.

**Once you're within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we've put on their house you'll be able to use a Portkey to the Burrow. Any questions?"**

**"Er – yes," said Harry. "Maybe they won't know which of the twelve secure houses I'm heading for at first, but won't it be sort of obvious once" – he performed a quick headcount – "fourteen of us fly off toward Tonks' parents?"**

"Yeah, it might," James answered sarcastically.

**"Ah," said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us won't be flying to Tonks' parents. There will be seven Harry Potters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."**

"That's quite a good idea, actually," Remus approved.

**From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to say another word; Harry understood the rest of the plan immediately.**

"He's quick on the uptake isn't he?" Sirius asked suspiciously. "Has he had much experience with Polyjuice before?"

"He was no quicker than Moony," James pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's _Moony_. He knows everything, so he doesn't count."

"Was that a compliment and an insult all in one sentence?" asked Remus, slightly amused. "That's commendable, Pads."

**"No!" he said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. "No way!"**

**"I told them you'd take it like this," said Hermione with a hint of complacency.**

"Seems they know each other well," James noticed with approval.

**"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives–!"**

**"—because it's the first time for all of us," said Ron.**

"Okay, they have had experience with it," Sirius deduced. "I just wonder when."

**"This is different, pretending to be me-"**

**"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."**

Again, the room was full of snorts.

**Harry did not smile.**

"Come on, that was funny!" Sirius cried indignantly.

**"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."**

**"Well, that's the plan scuppered," said George. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."**

**"Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," said Fred.**

"Actually, they wouldn't be allowed to use magic there either, otherwise the Ministry will think Harry did it and try to arrest him," Remus pointed out.

**"Funny," said Harry, "really amusing."**

**"If it has to come to force, then it will," growled Moody, his magical eye now quivering a little in its socket as he glared at Harry. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk."**

**Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the magical eye swerved sideways to glance at him out of the side of Moody's head.**

"See what I mean? He's not to be trusted," James complained.

**"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now."**

"That would sound so weird taken out of context…" Sirius contemplated.

**"But this is mad, there's no need–"**

**"No need!" snarled Moody. "With You-Know-Who out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait**

"He hasn't," James pointed out unhelpfully.

**and he'll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do. **

"Not everyone's as paranoid as him," Remus grinned, amused.

**They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who can't split himself into seven."**

**Harry caught Hermione's eye and looked away at once.**

"Inside joke?" Sirius wondered.

**"So, Potter – some of your hair, if you please."**

**Harry glanced at Ron, who grimaced at him in a just-do-it sort of way.**

"He can distinguish between grimaces?" asked James, impressed. "That takes a lot of skill."

**"Now!" barked Moody.**

**With all of their eyes upon him, Harry reached up to the top of his head, grabbed a hank of hair, and pulled.**

**"Good," said Moody, limping forward as he pulled the stopper out of the flask of potion. "Straight in here, if you please."**

**Harry dropped the hair into the mud-like liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the potion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold.**

"Impressive," Remus murmured. "The colour of the Polyjuice reflects how pure the person is."

**"Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry," said Hermione, **

The room was filled with snorts (mostly belonging to Sirius and James), but their mirth was cut short from a glare from Remus.

**before catching sight of Ron's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean – Goyle's potion tasted like bogies."**

"Why would they need to impersonate him?" asked Sirius, interested.

"They're probably talking about Crabbe and Goyle's sons," Remus reasoned, for there really was no reason to be impersonating two dumb Death Eaters.

**"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please," said Moody.**

**Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Aunt Petunia's gleaming sink.**

**"We're one short," said Lupin.**

**"Here," said Hagrid gruffly, and he lifted Mundungus by the scruff of the neck and dropped him down beside Fleur, who wrinkled her nose pointedly and moved along to stand between Fred and George instead.**

"Can't really blame her, I don't think Dung ever showers," James contributed.

**"I've toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector," said Mundungus.**

"Dung? Protecting?" Sirius snorted, amused. "Don't make me laugh!"

**"Shut it," growled Moody. "As I've already told you, you spineless worm, **

"Aren't worms always spineless? That kind of renders the adjective useless – it would be like saying, I dunno… The living living thing?"

"Nobody cares, Moony," Sirius rolled his eyes.

**any Death Eaters we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. **

"That's reassuring," James replied sarcastically.

**Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Eaters'll want to kill them."**

**Mundungus did not look particularly reassured, but Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.**

"Wouldn't it be simpler for everyone just to have a sip from a large flask?" asked Sirius, confused.

**"Altogether, then…"**

**Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and grimaced as the potion hit their throats; at once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darkening, Hermione's and Fleur's appearing to shoot backward into their skulls. **

"Pleasant," Remus muttered.

**Moody, quite unconcerned, **

"That's what he's like," shrugged James nonchalantly.

**was now loosening the ties of the large sacks he had brought with him. When he straightened up again, there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him.**

**Fred and George turned to each other and said together, "Wow – we're identical!"**

"Brilliant!" James and Sirius cried, Remus barely holding in his laughter.

**"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking," said Fred, examining his reflection in the kettle.**

This had almost exactly the same response as the last line, only Remus had now succumbed to temptation and was laughing profusely.

**"Bah," said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, "Bill, don't look at me –I'm 'ideous."**

**"Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, I've got smaller here," said Moody, indicating the first sack, "and vice versa. **

"Well, the girls should definitely change, or does Harry usually wear girls' clothes?" pointed out Sirius.

**Don't forget the glasses, there's six pairs in the side pocket. And when you're dressed, there's luggage in the other sack."**

"They're prepared," Remus noted approvingly.

"Of course, it's Moody – he would prepare any mission a year in advance if he could," James told the wolf.

**The real Harry thought that this might just be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen, and he had seen some extremely odd things.**

"Haven't we all," muttered Sirius.

**He watched as his six doppelgangers rummaged in the sacks, pulling out sets of clothes, putting on glasses, stuffing their own things away. He felt like asking them to show a little more respect for privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly more at ease with displaying his body than they would have been with their own.**

"Ah, that's got to be awkward," James snorted.

**"I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo," said Ron, looking down at his bare chest.**

"Ginny?" both James and Sirius asked with interest.

"We'll just have to wait and see who she is," Remus told them, snorting as they started to shift impatiently.

**"Harry, your eyesight really is awful," said Hermione, as she put on glasses.**

"That's why we wear glasses," James told the book, as if he were talking to a particularly dumb toddler.

**Once dressed, the fake Harrys took rucksacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl, from the second sack.**

"Wouldn't it be easy to see if the owls are stuffed?" asked Sirius.

"I don't think the Death Eaters would really be paying attention to the owl," was the irritated reply from Remus, who was motioning impatiently for Sirius to keep on reading.

**"Good," said Moody, as at last seven dressed, bespectacled, and luggage-laden Harrys faced him. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be travelling with me, by broom–"**

**"Why'm I with you?" grunted the Harry nearest the back door.**

**"Because you're the one that needs watching," growled Moody, and sure enough, his magical eye did not waver from Mundungus as he continued, **

"He's a man of his word," James nodded seriously.

**"Arthur and Fred –"**

**"I'm George," said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?"**

"Can you do that?" asked Sirius curiously, but the other two had no idea.

**"Sorry, George –"**

**"I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really–"**

**"Enough messing around!" snarled Moody. **

"He doesn't have a sense of humour," James noted, storing the information away in some place of his brain. It was always good to know who to prank, and whether to duck hexes or not.

**"The other one – George or Fred or whoever you are – you're with Remus. **

"Moony!" two of the three cried.

"Are you going to do that every time I'm mentioned?" asked Remus, torn between being exasperated and amused.

"You're the only one of us in this story," James told him.

**Miss Delacour–"**

**"I'm taking Fleur on a Thestrel," said Bill. "She's not that fond of brooms."**

**Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.**

"However, Harry _does _have a sense of humour," Sirius snorted.

**"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by Thestrel–"**

**Hermione looked reassured as she answered Kingsley's smile; Harry knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broomstick.**

**"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she waved at him.**

"And that inspired great confidence in him," Sirius said in his reading voice, ducking the two pillows sent his way.

**Ron did not look quite as pleased as Hermione.**

"As anyone who does not have a brain full of Doxy droppings could easily anticipate," Remus put in.

**"An' you're with me, Harry. That all righ'?" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious.**

"They put him with the one who could protect him least, when he's the one who's most wanted," Remus said thoughtfully, ignoring the other's protests about Hagrid's capability. "That is only a good plan if it works out – otherwise Harry's screwed."

**"We'll be on the bike, brooms an' Thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o'room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar."**

**"That's great," said Harry, not altogether truthfully.**

"Well, at least he's polite," said James, slightly doubtfully.

**"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who looks at home on a broomstick. **

"Then he inherited the Potter flying genes!" James cried excitedly. "I wonder what position he plays? Chaser, like his father?"

"Or Seeker, like his mother?" Remus murmured to himself.

**All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Come on…"**

"I can just imagine Death Eaters knocking on a door and looking impatient," Sirius sniggered.

**Harry hurried to gather his rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage and followed the group to the dark back garden.**

**On every side broomsticks were leaping into hands; Hermione had already been helped up onto a great black Thestrel by Kingsley, Fleur onto the other by Bill. Hagrid was standing ready beside the motorbike, goggles on.**

**"Is this it? Is this Sirius's bike?"**

"Yes!" Sirius cried triumphantly. "I get the bike!"

"Okay, okay – you get the bike, but is it really necessary to shout in my ear?" Remus complained, rubbing the abused body part.

**"The very same," said Hagrid, beaming down at Harry.**

**"An'the last time yeh was on it, Harry, I could fit yeh in one hand!"**

"Aw!" Sirius cooed sarcastically, not finding the comment endearing in the slightest proportion.

**Harry could not help but feel a little humiliated as he got into the sidecar. It placed him several feet below everybody else: Ron smirked at the sight of him sitting there like a child in a bumper car. **

"Lovely friend," James snorted.

**Harry stuffed his rucksack and broomstick down by his feet and rammed Hedwig's cage between his knees. He was extremely uncomfortable.**

**"Arthur's done a bit o'tinkerin'," said Hagrid, quite oblivious to Harry's discomfort. He settled himself astride the motorcycle, which creaked slightly and sank inches into the ground. "It's got a few tricks up its sleeves now. Tha'one was my idea."**

**He pointed a thick finger at a purple button near the speedometer.**

"What does it do?" asked James, forgetting to be apprehensive.

**"Please be careful, Hagrid." said Mr. Weasley, who was standing beside them, holding his broomstick. "I'm still not sure that was advisable and it's certainly only to be used in emergencies."**

"You don't want to know, Prongs," Remus replied.

**"All right, then." said Moody. "Everyone ready, please. I want us all to leave at exactly the same time or the whole point of the diversion's lost."**

**"Hold tight now, Ron," said Tonks, and Harry saw Ron throw a furtive, guilty look at Lupin before placing his hands on each side of her waist.**

"No comments are necessary," Remus hissed, kicking Sirius (who was nearest) and sending James a death glare.

"Moony, you wound me!" cried Sirius, but he hastily continued reading.

**Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life: it roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate.**

**"Good luck, everyone," shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. **

"That's not like Moody," said James, surprised. "He would say 'don't die', but that was scarily cheerful."

The comment was ignored, much to James's indignation.

**On the count of three. One … two... THREE."**

They held their breath, waiting for the action to begin.

**There was a great roar from the motorbike, and Harry felt the sidecar give a nasty lurch. He was rising through the air fast, his eyes watering slightly, hair whipped back off his face.**

**Around him brooms were soaring upward too; the long black tail of a Thestrel flicked past. His legs, jammed into the sidecar by Hedwig's cage and his rucksack, were already sore and starting to go numb. So great was his discomfort that he almost forgot to take a last glimpse of number four Privet Drive. By the time he looked over the edge of the sidecar he could no longer tell which one it was.**

"That's a shame," muttered Sirius sarcastically.

**And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded. **

"Shit!" James cursed.

**At least thirty hooded figures, suspended in midair, formed a vast circle in the middle of which the Order members had risen, oblivious –**

**Screams, a blaze of green light on every side: **

"_Green_!" Remus whispered, pale.

**Hagrid gave a yell and the motorbike rolled over. Harry lost any sense of where they were. Streetlights above him, yells around him, he was clinging to the sidecar for dear life. Hedwig's cage, the Firebolt, and his rucksack slipped from beneath his knees –**

"Okay, I hate to ruin the mood, but why is there a hyphen at the end of every paragraph?" asked Sirius. He quickly flicked through the chapter. "And it goes on for almost all of it."

**"No – HEDWIG!"**

**The broomstick spun too, but he just managed to seize the strap of his rucksack and the top of the cage as the motorbike swung the right way up again. A second's relief, and then another burst of green light. The owl screeched and fell to the floor of the cage.**

"The owl?" James gasped incredulously. "The owl?"

**"No – NO!"**

**The motorbike zoomed forward; Harry glimpsed hooded Death Eaters scattering as Hagrid blasted through their circle.**

**"Hedwig – Hedwig –"**

**But the owl lay motionless and pathetic as a toy on the floor of her cage.**

"That's a bummer," Sirius said, but you could tell he was still slightly upset.

**He could not take it in, and his terror for the others was paramount. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a mass of people moving, flares of green light, two pairs of people on brooms soaring off into the distance, but he could not tell who they were –**

"Another random hyphen."

"Pads, I really couldn't care less right now."

"Really, Prongs? Because it's pissing me off!"

**"Hagrid, we've got to go back, we've got to go back!" he yelled over the thunderous roar of the engine, pulling out his wand, ramming Hedwig's cage into the floor, refusing to believe that she was dead.**

"Harry, you can mourn later, just get to safety first!" cried James desperately.

**"Hagrid, TURN AROUND!"**

**"My job's ter get you there safe, Harry!" bellow Hagrid, and he opened the throttle.**

"Thank you!" James panted, relieved.

**"Stop – STOP!" Harry shouted, but as he looked back again two jets of green light flew past his left ear: four Death Eaters had broken away from the circle and were pursuing them, aiming for Hagrid's broad back. Hagrid swerved, but the Death Eaters were keeping up with the bike; more curses shot after them, and Harry had to sink low into the sidecar to avoid them. Wriggling around he cried, "****_Stupefy_****!" and a red bolt of light shot from his own wand, cleaving a gap between the four pursuing Death Eaters as they scattered to avoid it.**

"Good idea," murmured Sirius, impressed.

**"Hold on, Harry, this'll do for 'em!" roared Hagrid, and Harry looked up just in time to see Hagrid slamming a thick finger into a green button near the fuel gauge. A wall, a solid black wall, erupted out of the exhaust pipe.**

"Well, that was unexpected," Remus blinked.

**Craning his neck, Harry saw it expand into being in midair. Three of the Death Eaters swerved and avoided it, but the fourth was not so lucky; he vanished from view and then dropped like a boulder from behind it, his broomstick broken into pieces. **

"It worked though," Remus muttered. "That was actually quite a good idea."

**One of his fellows slowed up to save him, but they and the airborne wall were swallowed by darkness as Hagrid leaned low over the handlebars and sped up.**

**More Killing Curses flew past Harry's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. **

"So Moody was right," Sirius put in. "They are aiming to kill the protectors, but they only want to capture Harry."

"Voldemort wants to kill him himself," Remus whispered bitterly, being careful for only Sirius to hear; he really didn't want to cause James _too _much panic.

**Harry responded with further Stunning Spells: red and green collided in midair in a shower of multicoloured sparks, and Harry thought wildly of fireworks, and the Muggles below who would have no idea what was happening –**

"Strange train of thought in the middle of the battle," Sirius snorted, deciding not to mention the hyphen.

**"Here we go again, Harry, hold on!" yelled Hagrid, and he jabbed at a second button. This time a great net burst from the bike's exhaust, but the Death Eaters were ready for it. Not only did they swerve to avoid it, but the companion who had slowed to save their unconscious friend had caught up. He bloomed suddenly out of the darkness and now three of them were pursuing the motorbike, all shooting curses after it.**

"Come on Hagrid, just get away!" James moaned, suddenly anxious and fearing for his son's life.

**"This'll do it, Harry, hold on tight!" yelled Hagrid, and Harry saw him slam his whole hand onto the purple button beside the speedometer. **

An anticipating silence followed.

**With an unmistakable bellowing roar, dragon fire burst from the exhaust, white-hot and blue, and the motorbike shot forward like a bullet with a sound of wrenching metal.**

"Well, I suppose that did it," Remus stated the obvious.

**Harry saw the Death Eaters swerve out of sight to avoid the deadly trail of flame, and at the same time felt the sidecar sway ominously: its metal connections to the bike had splintered with the force of acceleration.**

"It did it, but it had consequences," Remus amended.

**"It's all righ', Harry!" bellowed Hagrid, now thrown flat onto the back by the surge of speed; nobody was steering now, and the sidecar was starting to twist violently in the bike's slipstream.**

**"I'm on it, Harry, don' worry!" Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flowery pink umbrella.**

"No, let Harry do it!" Sirius cried desperately.

**"Hagrid! No! Let me!"**

"And apparently Harry knows what I know," he continued, amused.

**"REPARO!"**

"Hagrid!" Remus groaned.

**There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely. Harry sped forward, propelled by the impetus of the bike's flight, then the sidecar began to lose height –**

"Shit, Harry, do something!" James whispered urgently.

**In desperation Harry pointed his wand at the sidecar and shouted, "****_Wingardium Leviosa_****!"**

_Please let it work _all three of them thought.

**The sidecar rose like a cork, unsteerable but at least still airborne. **

"That's better," James murmured, as the other two breathed out sighs of relief.

**He had but a split second's relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: the three Death Eaters were closing in.**

The relief in the Room of Requirement was also short-lived.

**"I'm comin', Harry!" Hagrid yelled from out of the darkness, but Harry could feel the sidecar beginning to sink again: crouching as low as he could, he pointed at the middle of the oncoming figures and yelled, "****_Impedimenta_****!"**

"That will stop the hovering charm!" Remus was now extremely worried.

**The jinx hit the middle Death Eater in the chest; for a moment the man was absurdly spread-eagled in midair as though he had hit an invisible barrier: one of his fellows almost collided with him –**

**Then the sidecar began to fall in earnest, and the remaining Death Eater shot a curse so close to Harry that he had to duck below the rim of the car, knocking out a tooth on the edge of his seat –**

The three of them grimaced in sympathy.

**A huge hand seized the back of Harry's robes and hoisted him out of the plummeting sidecar; Harry pulled his rucksack with him as he dragged himself onto the motorbike's seat and found himself back-to-back with Hagrid. As they soared upward, away from the two remaining Death Eaters, Harry spat blood out of his mouth, pointed his wand at the falling sidecar, and yelled, "****_Confringo_****!"**

**He knew a dreadful, gut-wrenching pang for Hedwig as it exploded; **

"She can't just die a normal death!" said Sirius, irritated. "She has to explode."

"Prongs, your son is _very _unlucky," Remus agreed.

**the Death Eater nearest it was blasted off his broom and fell from sight; his companion fell back and vanished.**

**"Harry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," moaned Hagrid, "I shouldn'ta tried ter repair it meself– yeh've got no room–"**

"Don't worry Hagrid, just keep on going!" James urged.

**"It's not a problem, just keep flying!" Harry shouted back, **

James gave a tense smile at the similarity of the two statements.

**as two more Death Eaters emerged out of the darkness, drawing closer.**

**As the curses came shooting across the intervening space again, Hagrid swerved and zigzagged: Harry knew that Hagrid did not dare use the dragon-fire button again, with Harry seated so insecurely. Harry sent Stunning Spell after Stunning Spell back at their pursuers, barely holding them off. He shot another blocking jinx at them: The closest Death Eater swerved to avoid it and his hood slipped, and by the red light of his next Stunning Spell, Harry saw the strangely blank face of Stanley Shunpike – Stan –**

"Stan? Ralph Shunpike's son's a Death Eater?" asked Remus, frankly astonished.

**"****_Expelliarmus_****!" Harry yelled.**

**"That's him, it's him, it's the real one!"**

"How did they work that out?" asked James, once again on the verge of hyperventilating.

**The hooded Death Eater's shout reached Harry even above the thunder of the motorbike's engine: next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and disappeared from view.**

"What's going on?" asked Sirius nervously.

**"Harry, what's happened?" bellowed Hagrid. "Where've they gone?"**

**"I don't know!"**

**But Harry was afraid: The hooded Death Eater had shouted, "It's the real one!"; how had he known? **

"Just the thing I want to know," Remus agreed.

**He gazed around at the apparently empty darkness and felt its menace. Where were they? He clambered around on the seat to face forward and seized hold of the back of Hagrid's jacket.**

**"Hagrid, do the dragon-fire thing again, let's get out of here!"**

**"Hold on tight, then, Harry!"**

**There was a deafening, screeching roar again and the white-blue fire shot from the exhaust: Harry felt himself slipping backwards off what little of the seat he had. Hagrid flung backward upon him, barely maintaining his grip on the handlebars –**

**"I think we've lost 'em Harry, I think we've done it!" yelled Hagrid.**

"I'm not sure…" James put in, still slightly wary.

**But Harry was not convinced; fear lapped at him as he looked left and right for pursuers he was sure would come. . . . Why had they fallen back? One of them had still had a wand. . . . ****_It's him, it's the real one_****. . . . They had said it right after he had tried to Disarm Stan. . . .**

**"We're nearly there, Harry, we've nearly made it!" shouted Hagrid.**

"Okay, maybe it's okay…" James began to relax a little.

**Harry felt the bike drop a little, though the lights down on the ground still seemed remote as stars.**

**Then the scar on his forehead burned like fire: as a Death Eater appeared on either side of the bike, two Killing Curses missed Harry by millimetres, cast from behind –**

The tension was up again before anyone realised it.

**And then Harry saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or Thestrel to hold him, his snake-like face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again –**

The three of them gasped with worry.

**Hagrid let out a bellow of fear and steered the motorbike into a vertical dive. Clinging on for dear life, Harry sent Stunning Spells flying at random into the whirling night. He saw a body fly past him and knew he had hit one of them, but then he heard a bang and saw sparks from the engine; the motorbike spiralled through the air, completely out of control –**

They were all pale now, desperately hoping against hope that something good would happen; that somehow both Harry and Hagrid would live to tell the tale.

**Green jets of light shot past them again. Harry had no idea which way was up, which down: his scar was still burning; he expected to die at any second. A hooded figure on a broomstick was feet from him, he saw it raise its arm–**

James winced, almost resigned to his son's fate now.

**"NO!"**

**With a shout of fury Hagrid launched himself off the bike at the Death Eater; to his horror, Harry saw both Hagrid and the Death Eater, falling out of sight, their combined weight too much for the broomstick –**

No one dared speak, they just looked at Sirius who continued, in a shaky voice.

**Barely gripping the plummeting bike with his knees, Harry heard Voldemort scream, "****_Mine_****!"**

"Freak," Sirius muttered, before quickly reading again.

**It was over: He could not see or hear where Voldemort was; he glimpsed another Death Eater swooping out of the way and heard, "****_Avada_**** –"**

They all winced.

**As the pain from Harry's scar forced his eyes shut, his wand acted of its own accord. He felt it drag his hand around like some great magnet, saw a spurt of golden fire through his half-closed eyelids, heard a ****_crack_**** and a scream of fury. The remaining Death Eater yelled; Voldemort screamed, "****_NO_****!" Somehow, Harry found his nose an inch from the dragon-fire button. He punched it with his wand-free hand and the bike shot more flames into the air, hurtling straight toward the ground.**

"Is he going to be alright?" asked James faintly.

**"Hagrid!" Harry called, holding on to the bike for dear life. "Hagrid – ****_Accio Hagrid_****!"**

No-one commented on the spell, too worried to concentrate on such mundane thing.

**The motorbike sped up, sucked towards the earth. Face level with the handlebars, Harry could see nothing but distant lights growing nearer and nearer: he was going to crash and there was nothing he could do about it. Behind him came another scream, "Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!"**

"Don't."

All three of them whispered this.

**He felt Voldemort before he saw him. Looking sideways, he stared into the red eyes and was sure they would be the last thing he ever saw: Voldemort preparing to curse him once more –**

Dead silence.

**And then Voldemort vanished. Harry looked down and saw Hagrid spread-eagled on the ground below him. He pulled hard at the handlebars to avoid hitting him, groped for the brake, but with an ear-splitting, ground-trembling crash, he smashed into a muddy pond.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Sirius murmured.

"I'll read next," said Remus, taking the book. Turning the page, he gave a cry of frustration. "It's blank! There's nothing written on it!"

Asking to have a look, James took the book. Studying it for a moment, he noticed a note within its pages. "Here – look at this!" Crowding around him, they read the note.


	6. Chapter 6 Break

James un-crumpled the note and read it aloud.

"_Dear Marauders,_

_We see you have now got used to reading the book. We now would like to bring in one other person who we believe would also benefit from reading the book. This person is Lily Evans _– here James's voice became suddenly excited – _who, as you may have guessed, is Harry's mother. _

_Please take a break now and find Lily. When you have explained what has happened so far in the book, the pages will no longer be blank._

_HJP, RBW, HJG_."

James finished the note and studied the initials. "D'you think 'James' would be Harry's middle name?"

"Maybe. Why?" Remus replied.

"Well, one of the people sending us the letters could be Harry. HJP – Harry James Potter."

"I dunno, Prongs. C'mon, I'm sure it's almost dinner. I'm starving," Sirius told him, obviously not in the least bit interested.

They exited the Room of Requirement and walked to the Great Hall quietly, attracting many suspicious or worried looks. Pupils and teachers alike had learned to expect a particularly grand prank when they were quiet.

To add to this, no pranks had been played all day – this only made people believe all the notorious pranksters' time and effort had been focused on dinner. The last reason was that they sat at the bottom of the table, away from anyone else, and promptly started talking to each other in low voices.

Of course, this was one of the few times that there were completely innocent reasons for all of this, all of them I'm sure you could guess.

"We should make a list of everything that's happened so far, otherwise we might forget important things when we tell Lily," Remus told them in a low voice, drawing a spare bit of parchment from his bag.

"I have a son called Harry," James put in helpfully.

"I have a motorbike," added Sirius not-so-helpfully.

After about ten minutes worth of deliberation and deciding what was important, the list looked something like this:

_1. James and Lily have a son._

_2. Voldemort's after him._

_3. Snape's a git._

_4. Dumbledore and Sirius are dead._

_5. So are James and Lily._

_6. Remus married a five-year-old._

_7. Harry lived with the Dursleys, but he doesn't anymore._

_8. There was just a mid-air battle thing that we can't be bothered to explain. _

There were about a dozen more points, but I will not list them as it will only bore you.

"I'll go get her," James announced, standing up rather flamboyantly. Remus caught hold of the back of his robes.

"I will," he said quietly, not wanting another scene that would mean Lily not talking to James for a week. This would be slightly problematic, as it would mean she would not consent to reading the book – and Remus could not bear to think what this would do to his two best friends.

After having explained this to James (which took him a surprisingly little amount of time), he stood up and approached Lily. The object of James's affections was sitting about halfway down the table, talking to Alice Fey and her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom. He cleared his throat rather self-consciously. It then hit Remus how difficult it would be to persuade Lily that _yes _this was real, and _no _this wasn't some stupid prank that James and Sirius had made up.

Hearing his cough, Lily turned and smiled. "Hello Remus."

"Hi Lily. Erm, do you have a minute?"

"Sure." The red-head stood and followed him to the end of the table, grimacing slightly but showing no other sign of displeasure at sitting with Sirius and James.

"Well – you see, this morning we received a very odd letter," Remus starting, praying that the other two wouldn't speak and infuriate Lily. "With it came a book. It's a book from the future, and we are reading it."

It occurred to all three of them then how stupid and unbelievable it sounded, but luckily Lily seemed to believe them straight away. This was probably only because Remus told her, and he was the only one she trusted. Had it been any of the other marauders, they probably would have been fixed with a glare and hexed into next year.

"So you're going to change the future?" she now asked sharply, seeing where this was going. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"It is," Remus told her, "but the future was so bad, they want us to change it."

"Okay," she nodded her understanding. "Go on."

"The people who sent the book want you to read it with us," Remus finished. "We'll explain everything that's already happened."

Lily groaned. What had she done to deserve this? But really, if it was that important she would have to agree. "Alright."

The three marauders looked surprised that she had agreed so easily. Lily had to suppress a snort at their dumbfounded expressions. "Where are we reading?" she asked briskly.

"The Room of Requirement," James spoke for the first time. "Do you know where it is?"

"Who doesn't?" was the reply. "I'll just go make some sort of excuse to Frank and Alice, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." With these words, she got up and went to speak to her friends.

Five minutes later, they were back together again and an uncomfortable silence reigned. Lily picked up the book and looked at the front cover, the only part that hadn't faded.

"Harry Potter? Is that why you're so eager to read?" she asked.

The explanations started then, about how Harry was James's son (they forgot about Lily's involvement) and how Voldemort was after him, all about the Death Eater meeting and how Harry was staying with the Dursleys until the last chapter they'd read. Once they'd thought they were done, they looked again at the book. The pages were still blank.

"Have we missed anything?" asked James, looking quizzical.

"Yes!" Sirius cried suddenly. "Harry's your son, Evans!"

Lily became aware of the ground rushing up to meet her, before she was out cold.


	7. Chapter 7 The Fallen Warrior

Lily became aware of voices talking before she could decipher the words. She strained to hear; they were male, she concluded. At least they hadn't done something stupid or gone to fetch Madame Pomfrey, she acknowledged. Her mind became less fuzzy, and she was able to hear the words.

"Couldn't you have broken it to her gently, Pads?" That was Potter, she decided.

"She was going to have to be told eventually. We just got it over with quickly." That was probably Black, Remus wouldn't say that.

"You have no patience, you know that?" Remus sighed.

Lily suddenly sat up, snapping her eyes open. Normally she would have snorted at their surprised expressions, but her memories of the past day had come flooding back to her.

"What the HELL was I thinking?" she cried aloud, causing the marauders to back away from her slowly, scared of her temper. Sirius and James eyed her wand nervously. "Did you brainwash me, POTTER? Otherwise older me needs to be put in a mental asylum, because there is no way I would ever, ever, EVER marry or have a SON with YOU!"

Convinced that she was finished, the three other occupants of the room breathed a sigh of relief, and rubbed their stinging ears.

Bravely, Sirius spoke up. "Now that we've finished questioning the sanity of older you, we have a book to read." He ignored Lily death glare.

"Fine!" she snatched the book up and turned the pages to the correct chapter furiously.

Remus was about to protest that he was reading next, but he caught a glimpse of Lily's livid face and wisely decided against it.

**"Fallen Warrior," **Lily read. Her fury melted into worry, identical to the other expressions in the room. They were all wondering the same thing: who was the 'Fallen Warrior'?

**"Hagrid?"**

"Don't let it be Hagrid!" Lily prayed.

**Harry struggled to raise himself out of the debris of metal and leather that surrounded him; his hands sank into inches of muddy water as he tried to stand. **

"Yuck." Sirius was not impressed at Harry's hands' cleanliness.

Remus snorted.

"What?" asked Sirius, annoyed.

"It's just that – the messiest person in our dorm is concerned about muddy hands," James picked up on Remus' train of thought.

"But they're horrid, muddy hands. They're all slimy and gooey and you can't touch anything otherwise it gets all muddy as well," was the plaintive answer.

Shaking her head with amusement, Lily turned back to the book. She froze suddenly. _Amusement_? She was _amused_ by the marauders?

**He could not understand where Voldemort had gone and expected him to swoop out of the darkness at any moment. Something hot and wet was trickling down his chin and from his forehead. **

"Couldn't it just have said 'blood'?" asked James, looking at the book in confusion.

"It's to make it more exciting, Potter," Lily told him, rolling her eyes.

**He crawled out of the pond and stumbled toward the great dark mass on the ground that was Hagrid.**

**"Hagrid? Hagrid, talk to me –"**

**But the dark mass did not stir.**

"But _Hagrid _did not stir, Harry, but _Hagrid _did not stir."

Remus blinked. "Prongs, what the hell are you on about?"

"Can't the author person just name things as what they are, like _blood _instead of _something hot and wet_…"

James trailed off before dissolving into snorts, followed quickly by Sirius.

Remus raised his eyebrows at Lily, as if to say 'see what I have to put up with?'.

**"Who's there? Is it Potter? Are you Harry Potter?"**

"No, it's Merlin," Sirius said sardonically.

**Harry did not recognize the man's voice. **

"Of course you wouldn't, you've never met before," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Lily groaned. "Black, shut up or we'll never get through the book."

"'Course we will, Lils. We'll just keep on going until we've finished the book, even if we're old and grey," he replied easily, ignoring James' warning _shut up if you want to live until we're old and grey _look.

**Then a woman shouted. "They've crashed Ted! Crashed in the garden!"**

**Harry's head was swimming.**

**"Hagrid," he repeated stupidly, and his knees buckled.**

**The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on what felt like cushions, with a burning sensation in his ribs and right arm. His missing tooth had been re-grown. The scar on his forehead was still throbbing.**

"Why does his scar hurt when Voldemort's around?" wondered Remus.

The other three shrugged, not knowing the answer.

**"Hagrid?"**

"How many times has he said that this chapter?" asked James, snorting.

"He's worried about Hagrid, he has a right to!" Lily shot back, annoyed.

James didn't reply, but he mentally berated himself. _Good going, James. You're not just with your friends. Evans is here now._

**He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, lamp-lit sitting room. His rucksack lay on the floor a short distance away, wet and muddy. **

The other three (yes, Lily too!) snorted at Sirius' disgruntled expression.

**A fair-haired, big-bellied man **

Sirius doubled over laughing. "Great description of Ted!" he snorted. "Big-bellied? I'm sure Andy _loves _that!"

The expression on Lily's face was odd. She wanted to laugh, but she knew she shouldn't – and wouldn't. She was too stubborn to show her amusement, but could not contain her urge to laugh _completely_. She settled for sort-of smirk that looked so strange on her face the other three looked at her concernedly.

Hurriedly, before they could question her, she continued to read.

**was watching Harry anxiously.**

**"Hagrid's fine, son," said the man, **

"Oh, thank Merlin," Lily moaned, while the other three breathed sighs of relief.

**"the wife's seeing to him now. How are you feeling? Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth, and your arm. I'm Ted, by the way, Ted Tonks – Dora's father."**

"Moony's in-laws," Sirius stated happily. Remus couldn't be bothered to reprimand him, so he just stared at his friend reproachfully.

**Harry sat up too quickly. Lights popped in front of his eyes and he felt sick and giddy.**

**"Voldemort –"**

**"Easy, now," said Ted Tonks, **

"Random full name usage!" cried the three marauders in unison. Lily stared, appalled, at Remus, who grinned.

"Marauder!" he told her, pointing to himself. The other two nodded their agreement.

"He may seem good, but he's the worst of us all," James revealed, indicating the smirking wolf.

_If he's bad, the world's screwed_ Lily thought, slightly nervously.

**placing a hand on Harry's shoulder and pushing him back against the cushions.**

**"That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened, anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Arthur Weasley overstretch himself again, him and his Muggle contraptions?"**

"No, the bike was fine!" Sirius retorted defensively.

**"No," said Harry, as his scar pulsed like an open wound. "Death Eaters, loads of them – we were chased –"**

**"Death Eaters?" said Ted sharply. "What d'you mean, Death Eaters? **

"He means Death Eaters," said James slowly. "You know, Voldemort's followers?"

**I thought they didn't know you were being moved tonight, I thought –"**

**"They knew," said Harry.**

**Ted Tonks looked up at the ceiling as though he could see through it to the sky above.**

"Actually, there's two more floors before you get to the sky above," stated Sirius knowledgably.

"Unless they moved," both Remus and Lily said at the same time. James and Sirius edged away from them slowly, scared of their logic-ness.

**"Well, we know our protective charms hold, then, don't we? They shouldn't be able to get within a hundred yards of the place in any direction."**

"_That's _why he went poof!" exclaimed James.

"Poof?" asked Remus incredulously, wondering why his friend still had the vocabulary of a three-year-old.

"Poof," James confirmed, oblivious.

**Now Harry understood why Voldemort had vanished; it had been at the point when the motorbike crossed the barrier of the Order's charms. He only hoped they would continue to work: he imagined Voldemort, a hundred yards above them as they spoke, looking for a way to penetrate what Harry visualized as a great transparent bubble.**

"That's quite accurate, really," Lily nodded.

**He swung his legs off the sofa; he needed to see Hagrid with his own eyes before he would believe that he was alive. He had barely stood up, however, when a door opened and Hagrid squeezed through it, his face covered in mud and blood, limping a little but miraculously alive.**

**"Harry!"**

**Knocking over two delicate tables and an aspidistra, **

"Andy will love that," Sirius contributed. "Dora knocked that over once, and she almost had a fit."

"What is an aspidistra anyway?" asked James.

"It's an Asian plant in the lily family," Remus told him. (_**A.N: Was that just a coincidence, or did J.K put a plant from the lily family in intentionally?**_)

**he covered the floor between them in two strides and pulled Harry into a hug that nearly cracked his newly repaired ribs. "Blimey, Harry, how did yeh get out o' that? I thought we were both goners."**

**"Yeah, me too. I can't believe –"**

**Harry broke off. He had just noticed the woman who had entered the room behind Hagrid.**

**"You!" he shouted, and he thrust his hand into his pocket, but it was empty.**

"Who?" all four of them asked, before snorting in unison.

**"Your wand's here, son," said Ted, tapping it on Harry's arm. "It fell right beside you, I picked it up…And that's my wife you're shouting at."**

**"Oh, I'm – I'm sorry."**

**As she moved forward into the room, Mrs. Tonks's resemblance to her sister Bellatrix became much less pronounced:**

"Oh, her," Sirius nodded. "Why's he so pissed at her, apart from her just being a bitch?"

"She must have done something really bad," Remus agreed with him, voicing what he could see Lily wanted to say. He was slightly disappointed that _she_ couldn't bring herself to agree, showing this by giving her a quick reprimanding look. She had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

**Her hair was a light soft brown and her eyes were wider and kinder. Nevertheless, she looked a little haughty after Harry's exclamation.**

"Of course she would – she hates looking so much like Bella," James nodded, having met Andromeda several times; she loved to rant, and this was one of the many subjects of her long-winded complaints.

**"What happened to our daughter?" she asked. "Hagrid said you were ambushed; where is Nymphadora?"**

"She's the only person who gets away with calling Dora that," Sirius snorted. "Actually, I don't think even she gets away with it."

**"I don't know," said Harry. "We don't know what happened to anyone else."**

Tension seemed to build in the room with that one sentence. They had completely forgotten then name of the chapter – and if Hagrid wasn't the fallen warrior, who was? Remus was being glanced at uneasily.

**She and Ted exchanged looks. A mixture of fear and guilt gripped Harry at the sight of their expressions, if any of the others had died, it was his fault, all his fault. He had consented to the plan, given them his hair . . .**

"Absolute crap," Lily said decisively, ignoring the shocked looks being sent her way. "It's not Harry's fault. Seriously – don't say it, Black – why is he so intent on blaming himself for everything? Next he'll be saying he was the cause for World War 2."

The other three gave each other uneasy glances. They had spared Lily most of the details about the Dursleys, and no-one felt brave enough to explain why Harry was so selfless to the fiery soon-to-be mother.

"Well, he may not be the cause for World War 2, but he is responsible for the Second Wizarding War!"

A death glare told Sirius that his comment was not appreciated.

**"The Portkey," he said, remembering all of a sudden. "We've got to get back to the Burrow and find out – then we'll be able to send you word, or – or Tonks will, once she's –"**

**"Dora'll be ok, 'Dromeda," said Ted. "She knows her stuff, she's been in plenty of tight spots with the Aurors. The Portkey's through here," he added to Harry. "It's supposed to leave in three minutes, if you want to take it."**

"Well, that was a smooth subject change," Remus snorted, glad to be away from the uncomfortable conversation territory.

**"Yeah, we do," said Harry. He seized his rucksack, swung it onto his shoulders. "I –"**

**He looked at Mrs. Tonks, wanting to apologize for the state of fear in which he left her and for which he felt so terribly responsible, but no words occurred to him that he did not seem hollow and insincere…**

**"I'll tell Tonks – Dora – to send word, when she . . . Thanks for patching us up, thanks for everything, I –"**

"Just go Harry, you sound like a complete idiot," Sirius spoke up. To his surprise, he was not reprimanded by either parent; they both seemed to agree with him. A quick glance towards Remus told him that he also had the same opinion.

**He was glad to leave the room and follow Ted Tonks along a short hallway and into a bedroom. Hagrid came after them, bending low to avoid hitting his head on the door lintel.**

**"There you go, son. **

"What's with his obsession of saying 'son'?" asked James suddenly.

Sirius shrugged. "He's very paternal."

**That's the Portkey."**

**Mr. Tonks was pointing to a small, silver-backed hairbrush lying on the dressing table.**

**"Thanks," said Harry, reaching out to place a finger on it, ready to leave.**

**"Wait a moment," said Hagrid, looking around. "Harry, where's Hedwig?"**

They winced.

"Shouldn't have said that," James said sympathetically, and, to her horror, Lily found herself nodding in agreement. She forced her head to stay still.

**Harry got a lump in his throat, Hedwig was his sole companion at the Dursleys and now she was gone.**

**"She . . . she got hit," said Harry.**

**The realization crashed over him: he felt ashamed of himself as the tears stung his eyes. **

"He shouldn't," Lily muttered. "Stupid manly pride."

**The owl had been his companion, his one great link with the magical world whenever he had been forced to return to the Dursleys.**

Lily narrowed her eyes. "How bad _were _the Dursleys?"

"It's exaggerating," James said hastily. "Keep reading, Evans."

Lily felt a twinge of annoyance, but did as she was told.

**Hagrid reached out a great hand and patted him painfully on the shoulder.**

**"Never mind," he said gruffly, "Never mind. She had a great old life –"**

**"Hagrid!" said Ted Tonks warningly, as the hairbrush glowed bright blue, and Hagrid only just got his forefinger to it in time.**

**With a jerk behind the navel as though an invisible hook and line had dragged him forward, Harry was pulled into nothingness, **

"Well, that's one way to describe it," commented Remus, amused.

**spinning uncontrollably, his finger glued to the Portkey as he and Hagrid hurtled away from Mr. Tonks. Second later, Harry's feet slammed onto hard ground and he fell onto his hands and knees in the yard of the Burrow. He heard screams.**

All four gasped anxiously.

**Throwing aside the no longer glowing hairbrush, Harry stood up, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs. Weasley and Ginny running down the steps by the back door **

"Oh, it was only worried females," muttered Sirius, careful not to let Lily hear him.

"Ginny?" asked James. "Who's she? She hasn't been mentioned before."

**as Hagrid, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to his feet.**

**"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" cried Mrs. Weasley.**

**"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry panted.**

**The answer was clearly etched in Mrs. Weasley's pale face.**

**"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Harry told her, "We were surrounded the moment we took off – they knew it was tonight – I don't know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us –"**

**He could hear the self-justifying note in his voice, the plea for her to understand why he did not know what had happened to her sons, but –**

**"Thank goodness you're all right," she said, pulling him into a hug he did not feel he deserved.**

"He deserved it."

The very Lily-like comment was not only said by her – it was said by every person in the room.

**"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" asked Hagrid a little shakily, "Fer medicinal purposes?"**

"Yeah – we believe you," Remus snorted.

**She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, Harry knew that she wanted to hide her face. He turned to Ginny and she answered his unspoken plea for information at once.**

**"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," she said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient plimsoll, "should have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."**

"And we _will _be back in about a minute," Remus tried to persuade his friends.

**Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.**

Lily looked slightly disgusted, but it was mingled with amusement.

**"Mum!" shouted Ginny pointing to a spot several feet away.**

**A blue light had appeared in the darkness: it grew larger and brighter, and Lupin and George appeared, spinning and then falling. **

The tension in the room lifted a tiny bit.

**Harry knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood. **

The tiny bit that had lifted was back – the tension was thick and encasing, and any traces of amusement had vanished.

**Harry ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, he and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the living room, where they laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and Harry's stomach lurched: one of George's ears was missing.**

"His ear is _missing_?" Lily cried, disgusted.

**The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.**

**No sooner had Mrs. Weasley bent over her son that Lupin grabbed Harry by the upper arm and dragged him, none too gently, back into the kitchen, **

"Er – Moony, what the hell are you doing?" asked Sirius, confused.

**where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.**

**"Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly, "Le' go of him! Le' go of Harry!"**

**Lupin ignored him.**

**"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" he said, giving Harry a small shake. "Answer me!"**

"Moons, you are crazy," James told him.

**"A – a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"**

**Lupin released Harry and fell back against a kitchen cupboard.**

**"Wha' was tha' about?" roared Hagrid.**

**"I'm sorry, Harry, but I had to check," said Lupin tersely. "We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."**

"You're channelling Moody a bit there, mate," Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Moony is Moody," James said mysteriously. He snorted. "It wouldn't be too difficult to become Moody, Moons. You only have to change one letter."

"Idiots, both of them," Remus mouthed to Lily, who nodded in agreement.

**"So why aren' you checkin' me?" panted Hagrid, still struggling with the door.**

**"You're half-giant," said Lupin, looking up at Hagrid. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."**

**"None of the Order would have told Voldemort we were moving tonight," said Harry. The idea was dreadful to him, he could not believe it of any of them. "Voldemort only caught up with me toward the end, he didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If he'd been in on the plan he'd have known from the start I was the one with Hagrid."**

**"Voldemort caught up with you?" said Lupin sharply. "What happened? How did you escape?"**

"You're being very short-tempered," Lily said, surprised.

"Furry little problem?" questioned Sirius.

Remus shrugged. "I don't know."

Lily wondered what his rabbit had to do with this, but did not ask for fear of seeming ignorant.

**Harry explained how the Death Eaters pursuing them had seemed to recognize him as the true Harry, how they had abandoned the chase, how they must have summoned Voldemort, who had appeared just before he and Hagrid had reached the sanctuary of Tonks's parents.**

**"They recognized you? But how? What had you done?"**

"Really Remus, give the man a break," James reprimanded him. "His owl's just died and any of his friends could be dead, for Merlin's sake!"

"I don't know why I'm acting like this!" Remus said defensively.

**"I . . ." Harry tried to remember; the whole journey seemed like a blur of panic and confusion. "I saw Stan Shunpike . . . . You know, the bloke who was the conductor on the Knight Bus? And I tried to Disarm him instead of – well, he doesn't know what he's doing, does he? He must be Imperiused!"**

**Lupin looked aghast.**

**"Harry, the time for Disarming is past! These people are trying to capture and kill you! At least Stun if you aren't prepared to kill!"**

"And now Moony's encouraging people to kill. The future is mad."

Sirius' words were reflected in the minds of the others.

**"We were hundreds of feet up! Stan's not himself, and if I Stunned him and he'd fallen, he'd have died the same as if I'd used ****_Avada Kedavra_****! ****_Expelliarmus_**** saved me from Voldemort two years ago," Harry added defiantly. **

"How the hell did he manage that?" asked James, although whether he was talking about the Disarming charm or facing Voldemort no-one knew.

**Lupin was reminding him of the sneering Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith, who had jeered at Harry for wanting to teach Dumbledore's Army **

"Dumbledore's Army?" asked Lily, interested.

**how to Disarm.**

**"Yes, Harry," said Lupin with painful restraint, "and a great number of Death Eaters witnessed that happening! Forgive me, but it was a very unusual move then, under the imminent threat of death. Repeating it tonight in front of Death Eaters who either witnessed or heard about the first occasion was close to suicidal!"**

**"So you think I should have killed Stan Shunpike?" said Harry angrily.**

"Where did he get that from?" asked Remus. "Of course I don't!"

"I hate to break it to you, mate, but you're sort of acting like that," James said apologetically.

**"Of course not," said Lupin, "but the Death Eaters – frankly, most people! – would have expected you to attack back! ****_Expelliarmus_**** is a useful spell, Harry, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is your signature move, and I urge you not to let it become so!"**

**Lupin was making Harry feel idiotic, and yet there was still a grain of defiance inside him.**

**"I won't blast people out of my way just because they're there," said Harry, "That's Voldemort's job."**

"Good comeback," James noted, although he joined the others staring at Remus incredulously, who was staring at the book in askance.

"Okay, since when did I act like that?" he asked finally.

"Well, you might be the last marauder – and that wouldn't exactly make you joyful," Sirius replied.

**Lupin's retort was lost: finally succeeding in squeezing through the door, Hagrid staggered to a chair and sat down; it collapsed beneath him. Ignoring his mingled oaths and apologies, Harry addressed Lupin again.**

**"Will George be okay?"**

"He's had his ear blasted off. Yes, he's just dandy," Sirius raised his eyebrow.

**All Lupin's frustration with Harry seemed to drain away at the question.**

**"I think so, although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off –"**

**There was a scuffling from outside. Lupin dived for the back door; Harry leapt over Hagrid's legs and sprinted into the yard.**

"Yay – everyone is paranoid!" James cried, causing his two best friends to snort and Lily to question his maturity.

**Two figures had appeared in the yard, and as Harry ran toward them he realized they were Hermione, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both clutching a bent coat hanger. Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them. Over Hermione's shoulder Harry saw him raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.**

**"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"**

"But Polyjuice doesn't work on me…" Remus trailed off under Lily's curious gaze.

"Why not?" she asked, confused.

"Because it's for human use only," he told her, waiting to see her reaction.

"And you're not a human?" she asked, looking at him strangely.

"No," he said shortly.

Taking the hint, Lily dropped the subject and continued reading – she did, however, store the information away in her brain to revisit later

**"'****_Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him_****,'" said Lupin calmly.**

"No pressure or anything," Sirius snorted, but Lily frowned.

"Actually, Kingsley really shouldn't have chosen to ask you that, Remus. It will only make Harry feel more pressured or worried," she pointed out, sounding slightly worried herself. Furrowing her eyebrows, she continued reading.

**Kingsley turned his wand on Harry, but Lupin said, "It's him, I've checked!"**

"We know," James muttered, glaring at Remus who grinned sheepishly.

**"All right, all right!" said Kingsley, stowing his wand back beneath his cloak, "But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!"**

"Snivellus," growled Sirius angrily.

Lily did not reprimand him; in fact, she inclined her head ever so slightly – almost as if she was agreeing with him.

**"So it seems," replied Lupin, "but apparently they did not realize that there would be seven Harrys."**

**"Small comfort!" snarled Kingsley. **

"He's slightly edgy," James noted, wondering what had ruffled Kingsley's usually calm persona.

**"Who else is back?"**

**"Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me."**

Many lips were bitten – they really could do without the constant reminders of the people who still might not be safe.

**Hermione stifled a little moan behind her hand.**

"I wonder who she's worried about?" asked Sirius interestedly.

"Ron," replied Remus absently, causing the others (barring Lily) to stare at him, astonished.

"How'd you work that one out?" wondered James, but he recieved no answer, only a slightly smug smile.

**"What happened to you?" Lupin asked Kingsley.**

**"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kingsley reeled off, "and we saw You-Know-Who **

"Kingsley calls him You-Know-Who?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrows. "I thought he would have more sense."

**as well, he joined the chase halfway through but vanished pretty quickly. Remus, he can –"**

**"Fly," supplied Harry. "I saw him too, he came after Hagrid and me."**

**"So that's why he left, to follow you!" said Kingsley, "I couldn't understand why he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"**

**"Harry behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike," said Lupin.**

"And Remus overreacted to it," James inserted, causing the person in question to turn red with embarrassment.

**"Stan?" repeated Hermione. "But I thought he was in Azkaban?"**

"Ooh, it's Hermione!" Lily exclaimed suddenly. "We haven't heard from her much yet. I want to hear about Harry's friends!"

**Kingsley let out a mirthless laugh.**

**"Hermione, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Travers's hood fell off when I cursed him, he's supposed to be inside too. But what happened to you, Remus? Where's George?"**

"Lost an ear," Remus supplied.

**"He lost an ear," said Lupin.**

"Oh well, I don't change too much," he grinned.

"Well, it would be slightly odd if you didn't agree with yourself," Sirius pointed out, ducking the pillows flying his way from an irritated werewolf.

**"Lost an - ?" repeated Hermione in a high voice.**

**"Snape's work," said Lupin.**

"Snivellus!" Everyone (yes, even Lily) shouted at the top of their lungs. The marauders gaped at the only female in the room disbelievingly.

"Are you the only ones allowed to call him that?" she asked innocently.

Recovering from his shock, Sirius replied. "Of course not! It is the _encouraged _name for him!"

**"****_Snape_****?" shouted Harry. "You didn't say –"**

**"He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a specialty of Snape's. I wish I could say I'd paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood."**

**Silence fell between the four of them as they looked up at the sky. There was no sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying friends. Where was Ron? Where were Fred and Mr. Weasley? Where were Bill, Fleur, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus?**

"And now we know the order of importance of everyone," James snorted. "Poor Dung."

"Fits with his name, though," Remus added.

**"Harry, give us a hand!" called Hagrid hoarsely from the door, in which he was stuck again. **

Laughter filled the room.

"Indeed, laugh lads – and lady – for this may be the last comic relief in this book _ever_!" Sirius cried dramatically, causing the mirth to escalate.

Eventually, Lily continued with the book, struggling to keep her voice level.

**Glad of something to do, Harry pulled him free, then headed through the empty kitchen and back into the sitting room, where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were still tending to George. Mrs. Weasley had staunched his bleeding now, and by the lamplight Harry saw a clean gaping hole where George's ear had been.**

"That's horrible," Lily looked disgusted.

**"How is he?"**

**Mrs. Weasley looked around and said, "I can't make it grow back, not when it's been removed by Dark Magic. But it could've been so much worse . . . . He's alive."**

**"Yeah," said Harry. "Thank God."**

**"Did I hear someone else in the yard?" Ginny asked.**

**"Hermione and Kingsley," said Harry.**

"This conversation doesn't seem to be going anywhere," Remus observed, slightly amused.

"Yes – there's a slight awkwardness, don't you think?" Sirius grinned.

**"Thank goodness," Ginny whispered. They looked at each other; Harry wanted to hug her, hold on to her; **

"Ooer!" They grinned.

"So _she's _the love interest in this story!" Sirius crowed.

Lily hushed him and continued reading, a smile gracing her lips.

**he did not even care much that Mrs. Weasley was there, but before he could act on the impulse, there was a great crash from the kitchen.**

"Probably for the best. Molly would flip out!" James laughed.

**"I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"**

"That should be good enough proof," put in Lily. "No Death Eater could even _try _to pretend to care about someone that much."

**"Arthur," Molly breathed in relief.**

**Harry had never heard Mr. Weasley shout like that before. He burst into the living room, his bald patch gleaming with sweat, his spectacles askew, Fred right behind him, both pale but uninjured.**

"This is going to be difficult for them," Sirius said suddenly. "They won't be identical anymore."

"Of course you're worried that their pranks won't work anymore," Lily said scornfully.

"I'm not," Sirius replied, surprised. "They'll feel more apart than ever have before."

"Oh..." said Lily, startled. "Well then I'm sorry, I guess."

**"Arthur!" sobbed Mrs. Weasley. "Oh thank goodness!"**

**"How is he?"**

**Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees beside George. For the first time since Harry had known him, Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing.**

"You were right," Remus whispered softly to Sirius.

**Perhaps roused by the sound of Fred and their father's arrival, George stirred.**

**"How do you feel, Georgie?" whispered Mrs. Weasley.**

**George's fingers groped for the side of his head.**

**"Saintlike," he murmured.**

"What?" Lily looked terrified. "What's wrong with him?"

Suddenly, James and Sirius started grinning and Remus groaned.

"Pathetic," he mumbled.

"What is?" asked Lily, curiously.

"You'll see!" the other three chanted, once again reminding her that Remus was, indeed, a marauder.

**"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking terrified. "Is his mind affected?"**

"C'mon Fred, you're a prankster! How did you not get that?" James cried indignantly.

"Cut him some slack, Prongs, it's his twin. He has a right to be not entirely with it!" Remus told him, aggravated.

**"Saintlike," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. "You see. . . I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"**

"You're right, Remus. That was pathetic," Lily sniggered.

"But you're laughing," Sirius pointed out, confused.

"It's so bad it's funny."

This did not help, and his face was still confused as ever.

**Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Colour flooded Fred's pale face.**

**"Pathetic," he told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?"**

"And there's the prankster we know and love!" James cried with delight.

"Prongs, we barely know him. And I, personally, am not in love."

James frowned at Remus. "Stop raining on my parade!"

**"Ah well," said George, grinning at his tear-soaked mother. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum."**

**He looked around.**

**"Hi, Harry – you are Harry, right?"**

"That Polyjuice must be really confusing," Sirius muttered.

**"Yeah, I am," said Harry, moving closer to the sofa.**

**"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"**

"Not back," Lily put in, worried.

**"They're not back yet, George," said Mrs. Weasley. George's grin faded. Harry glanced at Ginny and motioned to her to accompany him back outside.**

"Oooh!"

Lily glared at the marauders, who started whistling innocently. Or at least, that's what they would have been doing if they could whistle. Instead, they were making funny blowy noises which didn't really contribute to their mock-innocent image.

**As they walked through the kitchen she said in a low voice.**

**"Ron and Tonks should be back by now. They didn't have a long journey; Auntie Muriel's not that far from here."**

**Harry said nothing. He had been trying to keep fear at bay ever since reaching the Burrow, but now it enveloped him, seeming to crawl over his skin, throbbing in his chest, clogging his throat. As they walked down the back steps into the dark yard, Ginny took his hand.**

James and Sirius leaned forwards, causing Lily to give them disgusted looks.

She was fingering her wand when Remus whispered in her ear, "You know that no spells are allowed. I hate to think what would happen if you violated that rule."

Lily drew her hand away, but that didn't stop her giving the other two death glares.

**Kingsley was striding backward and forward, glancing up at the sky every time he turned. Harry was reminded of Uncle Vernon pacing the living room a million years ago. **

"Stop insulting Kingsley!" Sirius cried indignantly, causing the others to snort.

**Hagrid, Hermione, and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upward in silence. None of them looked around when Harry and Ginny joined their silent vigil.**

**The minutes stretched into what might as well have been years. The slightest breath of wind made them all jump and turn toward the whispering bush or tree in the hope that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves –**

"The return of the hyphen!" James whispered mysteriously.

Lily looked confused, but decided not to question it when Remus shook his head wildly and mouthed "no" in her direction.

**And then a broom materialized directly above them and streaked toward the ground –**

James and Sirius sighed, exasperated.

"It's okay, the hyphens are gone now," said Remus soothingly, patting them on their shoulders.

**"It's them!" screamed Hermione.**

**Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.**

"That's Dora," Sirius snorted.

**"Remus!" Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom into Lupin's arms. His face was set and white: he seemed unable to speak. **

"You've gone crazy again," James told him.

**Ron tripped dazedly toward Harry and Hermione.**

**"You're okay," he mumbled, before Hermione flew at him and hugged him tightly.**

"Told you," said Remus smugly. "You're just too blind to notice. In fact, you probably wouldn't have noticed this if I hadn't pointed it out."

No one contradicted him.

**"I thought – I thought –"**

**"'M all right," said Ron, patting her on the back. "'M fine."**

**"Ron was great," said Tonks warmly, relinquishing her hold on Lupin. **

"And he could breathe once again," added Sirius, ignoring the glare being sent his way. In fact, that's all he seemed to be doing, lately. Ignoring glares.

**"Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom –"**

**"You did?" said Hermione, gazing up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.**

"And there it is again," Remus grinned, looking at the others smugly.

"Okay, Moons – you've made your point. Now quit bringing it up at every opportunity!" Sirius groaned.

"He's right, however much it pains me to admit it," Lily agreed. "It is getting a little annoying."

**"Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily, breaking free. "Are we the last back?"**

**"No," said Ginny, "we're still waiting for Bill and Fleur and Mad-Eye and Mundungus. **

"What's with all the ands? Just use commas," Lily pointed out.

"Evans, speech has no punctuation," James told her, missing her disbelieving look.

**I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you're okay, Ron –"**

"Good idea. Don't prolong their misery," Remus approved.

"So either Bill, Fleur, Mad-Eye or Dung is the fallen warrior. I don't think either Dung or Fleur would really be called a warrior," said Sirius thoughtfully.

"So we've got Bill and Mad-Eye left," James guessed his friend's train of thought.

**She ran back inside.**

**"So what kept you? What happened?" Lupin sounded almost angry at Tonks.**

Remus was again regarded with confusion.

**"Bellatrix," said Tonks. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, She tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus . . . . Then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's and we missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us –"**

**A muscle was jumping in Lupin's jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.**

**"So what happened to you lot?" Tonks asked, turning to Harry, Hermione, and Kingsley.**

**They recounted the stories of their own journeys, but all the time the continued absence of Bill, Fleur, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus seemed to lie upon them like a frost, its icy bite harder and harder to ignore.**

"So go back inside," Lily stated the obvious, but still managed to sound intelligent.

**"I'm going to have to get back to Downing Street, I should have been there an hour ago," said Kingsley finally, after a last sweeping gaze at the sky. "Let me know when they're back."**

**Lupin nodded. With a wave to the others, Kingsley walked away into the darkness toward the gate. Harry thought he heard the faintest ****_pop_**** as Kingsley Disapparated just beyond the Burrow's boundaries.**

"Couldn't Death Eaters just apparate outside the boundaries and walk in?" asked Sirius.

"Nah – they still wouldn't be able to get inside, the boundaries will repel them," Remus replied.

**Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came racing down the back steps, Ginny behind them. Both parents hugged Ron before turning to Lupin and Tonks.**

**"Thank you," said Mrs. Weasley, "for our sons."**

**"Don't be silly, Molly," said Tonks at once.**

**"How's George?" asked Lupin.**

**"What's wrong with him?" piped up Ron.**

"He's lost an ear," Sirius told the book.

**"He's lost –"**

**But the end of Mrs. Weasley's sentence was drowned in a general outcry. A Thestral had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from them. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.**

**"Bill! Thank God, thank God –"**

"So Mad-Eye's the fallen warrior," James whispered.

**Mrs. Weasley ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he said, "Mad-Eye's dead."**

There was a sharp intake of breath. Though they had all deduced this, hearing it made it seem all to real. Though none of them knew Moody too well, they all held him in high esteem. Hearing that he was able to be killed by Death Eaters made the war seem all the more dangerous.

Her voice wavering, Lily continued.

**Nobody spoke, nobody moved. Harry felt as though something inside him was falling, falling through the earth, leaving him forever.**

**"We saw it," said Bill; Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks in the light from the kitchen window. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort – he can fly – **

"We've heard," put in Sirius, but his voice lacked its usual joking quality.

**went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he Disapparated. **

"I told you he was not to be trusted," James mumbled.

**Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face, he fell backward off his broom and – there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail –"**

**Bill's voice broke.**

"That must have been horrible to see," said Lily softly.

**"Of course you couldn't have done anything," said Lupin.**

**They all stood looking at each other. Harry could not quite comprehend it. Mad-Eye dead; it could not be . . . . Mad-Eye, so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor . . .**

"Like Dumbledore," said Remus suddenly. "We never thought that _he _would die either. And yet he did. It just shows that, whatever our magical abilities, no one is safe in this war."

The others nodded, agreeing.

**At last it seemed to dawn on everyone, though nobody said it, that there was no point of waiting in the yard anymore, and in silence they followed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back into the Burrow, and into the living room, where Fred and George were laughing together.**

"That would be awkward," James joked half-heartedly.

**"What's wrong?" said Fred, scanning their faces as they entered, "What's happened? Who's -?"**

"It's almost as if he knows someone's died," Lily noted. "That's how bad this war is."

**"Mad-Eye," said Mr. Weasley, "Dead."**

**The twins' grins turned to grimaces of shock. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Tonks was crying silently into a handkerchief: she had been close to Mad-Eye, Harry knew, his favourite and his protégée at the Ministry of Magic. Hagrid, who had sat down on the floor in the corner where he had most space, was dabbing at his eyes with his tablecloth-sized handkerchief.**

No one had the energy to laugh.

**Bill walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of fire-whisky and some glasses.**

**"Here," he said, and with a wave of his wand, and sent twelve full glasses soaring through the room to each of them, holding the thirteenth aloft. "Mad-Eye."**

**"Mad-Eye," they all said, and drank.**

**"Mad-Eye," echoed Hagrid, a little late, with a hiccup. **

Again, no one laughed.

**The firewhisky seared Harry's throat. It seemed to burn feeling back into him, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality firing him with something that was like courage.**

"Alcohol always gives me courage too," Sirius nodded, snorting along with James and Remus.

**"So Mundungus disappeared?" said Lupin, who had drained his own glass in one.**

"Go Moony!" James cried, causing all three of them to snort. It really wasn't that funny, but it seemed that the only way to dispel the gloom that had started to settle on them was to laugh.

**The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Lupin, both wanting him to go on, it seemed to Harry, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.**

**"I know what you're thinking," said Bill, "and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. **

"That's true," said Remus thoughtfully. "I may not know Dung well, but I know that although he has many faults, being a traitor is not one of them."

**They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."**

"Especially Dung, who is known for his cowardice," put in Sirius scornfully.

**"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks. **

Sirius gave an exaggerated sniff.

Lily glared daggers at him. "She is _sad _about Made-Eye dying. There's no need to make fun of her!"

**"Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley. . . . "**

**"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."**

"No, it's all Snivellus's fault," James muttered heatedly. "Now they're going to go around suspecting each other when _none _of them is the traitor."

**She glared around at them all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccupping from behind his handkerchief. Harry glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save Harry's – Hagrid, whom he loved, whom he trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg. . . .**

"That was random," Sirius blinked.

**"No," Harry said aloud, and they all looked at him, surprised: the firewhisky seemed to have amplified his voice. "I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."**

"I hope we listen to him!" Remus prayed. "I might be a Moody reincarnation, but I need to still know the value of trust!"

**More silence followed his words. They were all looking at him; Harry felt a little hot again, and drank some more firewhisky for something to do. As he drank, he thought of Mad-Eye. Mad-Eye had always been scathing about Dumbledore's willingness to trust people.**

**"Well said, Harry," said Fred unexpectedly.**

**"Yeah, 'ear, 'ear," said George, with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched.**

"They really need to improve on those jokes," said James critically.

**Lupin was wearing an odd expression as he looked at Harry. It was close to pitying.**

**"You think I'm a fool?" demanded Harry.**

**"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonour to mistrust his friends."**

"It is!" cried James.

"I know, Prongs. What is wrong with me?" asked Remus disbelievingly.

**Harry knew what Lupin was getting at: that his father had been betrayed by his friend Peter Pettigrew. **

There it was. The evidence for the event that they'd all hoped against hope had not happened.

"Wormtail?" James gaped. Sirius was on his feet almost at once.

"That rat! That treacherous, traitorous rat!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Sit down, Pads," said Remus tiredly. "Save that for when you next see him." In his opinion, shouting would do nothing to improve the siuation - if it did, he would be ranting at the top of his lungs right now.

**He felt irrationally angry. He wanted to argue, but Lupin had turned away from him, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill, "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether –"**

"What are we going to do?" asked Remus.

"You probably going to find Mad-Eye's body," Lily replied, looking slightly squeamish at the thought.

**"No," said Bill at once, "I'll do it, I'll come."**

**"Where are you going?" said Tonks and Fleur together.**

"Ah, the overprotective wives," Sirius joked, causing the others to snort.

**"Mad-Eye's body," said Lupin. "We need to recover it."**

"Thought so," said Lily smugly. Though she would deny it, she loved getting things right.

**"Can't it - ?" began Mrs. Weasley with an appealing look at Bill.**

**"Wait?" said Bill, "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?"**

"That would be horrible," said James, shuddering at the thought.

"How are they going to find the body anyway?" asked Sirius. "If he fell of his broom, he could be anywhere along the route."

"Bill would probably know roughly, he did see Moody die," Remus replied thoughtfully.

**Nobody spoke. Lupin and Bill said goodbye and left.**

**The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for Harry, who remained standing. The suddenness and completeness of death was with them like a presence.**

**"I've got to go too," said Harry.**

"What?" asked Lily, surprised. "He can't! He'll be putting himself in more danger, he's just got out of some!"

**Ten pairs of startled eyes looked at him.**

**"Don't be silly, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, "What are you talking about?"**

"Exactly!" Lily cried indignantly.

**"I can't stay here."**

**He rubbed his forehead; it was prickling again, it had not hurt like this for more than a year.**

**"You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want –"**

"All he does is blame himself for things!" Sirius huffed exasperatedly.

**"But don't be so silly!" said Mrs. Weasley. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. And Fleur's agreed to get married here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you –"**

**She did not understand; she was making him feel worse, not better.**

"That's what she's trying to do," said James darkly; he was experienced with guilt traps, mostly from his mother.

**"If Voldemort finds out I'm here –"**

**"But why should he?" asked Mrs. Weasley.**

**"There are a dozen places you might be now, Harry," said Mr. Weasley. "He's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."**

"He'll just use trial and error," Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

**"It's not me I'm worried for!" said Harry.**

**"We know that," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "but it would make our efforts tonight seem rather pointless if you left."**

"Are they all laying guilt traps?" asked Remus, pitying his friend's son.

**"Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Hagrid. "Blimey, Harry, after all we wen' through ter get you here?"**

**"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said George, hoisting himself up on his cushions.**

"It seems so," Lily told him, slightly amused.

**"I know that –"**

**"Mad-Eye wouldn't want –"**

"Okay, that's enough or he'll go crazy!" James told the book.

**"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed.**

"Seems you were right," Sirius snorted.

**He felt beleaguered and blackmailed: did they think he did not know what they had done for him, didn't they understand that it was for precisely that reason that he wanted to go now, before they had to suffer any more on his behalf?**

**There was a long and awkward silence in which his scar continued to prickle and throb, and which was broken at last by Mrs. Weasley.**

**"Where's Hedwig, Harry?" she said coaxingly. "We can put her up with Pidwidgeon and give her something to eat."**

"Not the best thing to say," Lily grimaced.

**His insides clenched like a fist. He could not tell her the truth. He drank the last of his firewhiskey to avoid answering.**

**"Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Harry," said Hagrid. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"**

**"It wasn't me," said Harry flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."**

"No-one's going to believe him," said Remus softly. "It sounds crazy."

**After a few moments, Hermione said gently, "But that's impossible, Harry. You mean that you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."**

**"No," said Harry. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was, but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him, and it wasn't even a spell I recognized. I've never made gold flames appear before."**

**"Often," said Mr. Weasley, "when you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained –"**

"That sound patronising," Sirius accused.

**"It wasn't like that," said Harry through gritted teeth. His scar was burning. He felt angry and frustrated; he hated the idea that they were all imagining him to have power to match Voldemort's.**

"He does," James said; not in a boastful way, just calmly stating the facts.

**No one said anything. He knew that they did not believe him. Now that he came to think of it, he had never heard of a wand performing magic on its own before.**

"That doesn't mean it can't happen," Lily said logically.

**His scar seared with pain, it was all he could do not to moan aloud. Muttering about fresh air, he set down his glass and left the room.**

**As he crossed the yard, the great skeletal Thestral looked up, rustled its enormous batlike wings, then resumed its grazing. Harry stopped at the gate into the garden, staring out at its overgrown plants, rubbing his pounding forehead and thinking of Dumbledore.**

"Why?" asked Sirius, slightly stupidly.

**Dumbledore would have believed him, he knew it. Dumbledore would have known how and why Harry's wand had acted independently, because Dumbledore always had the answers; he had known about wands, had explained to Harry the strange connection that existed between his wand and Voldemort's . . . . But Dumbledore, like Mad-Eye, like Sirius, like his parents, like his poor owl, all were gone where Harry could never talk to them again. **

The unwelcome reminder caused them all to frown and furiously swipe at their eyes.

**He felt a burning in his throat that had nothing to do with firewhisky. . . .**

**And then, out of nowhere, the pain in his scar peaked. As he clutched his forehead and closed his eyes, a voice screamed inside his head.**

**"****_You told me the problem would be solved by using another's wand_****!"**

"What's happening?" everyone cried.

"Maybe it's to do with Harry's scar," Remus suggested, but he was quietened and Lily was ushered on.

**And into his mind burst the vision of an emaciated old man lying in rags upon a stone floor, screaming, a horrible drawn-out scream, a scream of unendurable agony. . . .**

**"No! No! I beg you, I beg you. . . ."**

**"You lied to Lord Voldemort, Ollivander!"**

**"I did not. . . . I swear I did not. . . ."**

**"You sought to help Potter, to help him escape me!"**

**"I swear I did not. . . . I believed a different wand would work. . . ."**

**"Explain, then, what happened. Lucius's wand is destroyed!"**

**"I cannot understand. . . . The connection . . . exists only . . between your two wands. . . ."**

**"****_Lies_****!"**

**"Please . . . I beg you. . . ."**

**And Harry saw the white hand raise its wand and felt Voldemort's surge of vicious anger, saw the frail old main on the floor writhe in agony –**

**"Harry?"**

Deep, shuddering breaths were taken. No-one had interrupted the vision, and no-one wanted to comment. Seeing this, Lily shakily read on.

**It was over as quickly as it had come: Harry stood shaking in the darkness, clutching the gate into the garden, his heart racing, his scar still tingling. It was several moments before he realized that Ron and Hermione were at his side.**

"His friends," said Sirius, letting a smile blossom on his face.

**"Harry, come back in the house," Hermione whispered, "You aren't still thinking of leaving?"**

**"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate," said Ron, thumping Harry on the back.**

**"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to look into Harry's face. "You look awful!"**

"I'm sure he appreciates that," muttered James sarcastically, causing shaky laughter.

**"Well," said Harry shakily, "I probably look better than Ollivander. . . ."**

**When he had finished telling them what he had seen, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified.**

**"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar – it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again – Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"**

"Dumbledore's dead," said Remus darkly.

**When he did not reply, she gripped his arm.**

**"Harry, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!"**

On that sombre note, Lily finished the chapter.

"Let's read one more chapter, and then we should get to bed," said Remus, drawing to attention how late it was getting.

"I'll read," James volunteered, taking the book and turning the page. He cleared his throat and began.


	8. Chapter 8 The Ghoul in Pyjamas

_As you've probably noticed by now I've been updating like crazy, trying to get through all of Beeabons chapters . Also all her half chapters have become full chapters so you dont have to wait, enjoy~!_

"**The Ghoul in Pyjamas**," read James, snorting.

"This chapter doesn't sound so bad," said Lily, snuggling back into her armchair.

**The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed; Harry kept expecting to see him stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay news. Harry felt that nothing but action would assuage his feelings of guilt and grief and that he ought to set out on his mission to find and destroy Horcruxes as soon as possible.**

"What are Horcruxes?" asked James, directing the question at Remus and Lily. Surprisingly, it was Sirius who answered.

"If I remember correctly, nothing good," he told James, shuddering slightly.

"What are they?" pressed Remus, causing James to snigger, amused. Sirius knowing something that Remus didn't was practically unheard of.

"It's complicated to explain – it'll probably be explained in the book," was the answer.

Lily, meanwhile, was confused. She had led herself to believe that both James and Sirius were fools – but she was starting to believe she had incorrectly assumed. Biting her lip, she mentally told herself to investigate further.

**"Well, you can't do anything about the"—Ron mouthed the word Horcruxes— **

"Is it so difficult to have private conversations in that house you can't say certain words?" asked Remus incredulously.

**"till you're seventeen. You've still got the Trace on you. And we can plan here as well as anywhere, can't we? **

"Not if you can't even say the word 'Horcruxes'," Remus muttered.

**Or," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "d'you reckon you already know where the You-Know-What's are?"**

Sirius snorted. "It's like calling Voldemort You-Know-Who isn't it? You're either not allowed to say the name, or else you're too frightened to."

"Could you just tell us what Horcruxes are?" Lily begged.

Sirius grinned mischievously – he was enjoying this. "If it's not said by the end of the chapter, I'll tell you," he promised.

**"No," Harry admitted.**

**"I think Hermione's been doing a bit of research," said Ron. "She said she was saving it for when you got here."**

"Ah, she's the Remus of the group then," James acknowledged. "It's very useful to have one of them."

**They were sitting at the breakfast table; Mr. Weasley and Bill had just left for work. Mrs. Weasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione and Ginny, **

"Girls sleeping in and boys not? What is wrong with the world?" asked Lily jokingly, causing the others to stare at her as if she had grown an extra head.

"Did you just make a joke?" asked Sirius disbelievingly.

**while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath.**

**"The Trace'll break on the thirty-first," said Harry. "That means I only need to stay here four days. Then I can—"**

**"Five days," Ron corrected him firmly. "We've got to stay for the wedding. They'll kill us if we miss it."**

**Harry understood "they" to mean Fleur and Mrs. Weasley.**

"Harry, don't bother to face the wrath of angry women," Remus told the book. "Just stay one extra day. Voldemort's not going to win the war in just five days."

**"It's one extra day," said Ron, when Harry looked mutinous.**

**"Don't they realize how important—?"**

**"'Course they don't," said Ron. **

Snorts filled the room.

**"They haven't got a clue. And now you mention it, I want to talk to you about that."**

**Ron glanced toward the door into the hall to check that Mrs. Weasley was not returning yet, then leaned in closer to Harry.**

"If I had a dirtier mind, I would comment on that," put in Sirius, playing with his hair.

Remus raised an eyebrow at him. "Pads, nobody could have a dirtier mind if they tried. And besides, you did comment on it just then."

Sirius ignored him.

**"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked us as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. **

"Well, at least I still trust Dumbledore's judgement," said Remus, glad to have maintained at least one of his attributes.

**Not Mum, though. She's determined."**

**Ron's prediction came true within hours. **

"He must be a seer!" commented James in his 'mystic' voice, dodging the pillow sent his way from Lily's direction.

"Just keep reading!" she hissed, irritated with the constant interruptions.

**Shortly before lunch, Mrs. Weasley detached Harry from the others by asking him to help identify a lone man's sock that she thought might've come out of his rucksack. **

"No, don't fall for that one Harry!" cried James despairingly.

**Once she had him cornered in the tiny scullery of the kitchen, she started.**

**"Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.**

**"Oh," said Harry. "Well, yeah. We are."**

"At least he's telling the truth," commented Lily, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused. She settled for amused; she trusted her son's and Dumbledore's judgement.

**The mangle turned of its own accord in a corner, wringing what looked like one of Mr. Weasley's vests.**

"That was completely irrelevant," Sirius raised an eyebrow.

**"May I ask why you are abandoning your education?" said Mrs. Weasley.**

"No, you may not!" James retorted.

**"Well, Dumbledore left me . . . stuff to do," mumbled Harry. "Ron and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too."**

"Like the good friends they are," Remus nodded approvingly.

**"What sort of 'stuff'?"**

"It really is none of her business!" Sirius was starting to get annoyed now.

**"I'm sorry, I can't—"**

**"Well, frankly I think Arthur and I have a right to know and I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger would agree!" said Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been afraid of the "concerned parent" attack. He forced himself to look directly into her eyes, noticing as he did that they were precisely the same shade of brown as Ginny's.**

"Not going to help," James winced.

**This did not help.**

"Knew it," he stated.

**"Dumbledore didn't want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry, Ron and Hermione don't have to come, it's their choice—"**

**"I don't see that you have to go either!" she snapped, dropping all pretence now. **

Lily bit her lip, livid. Though she acknowledged that Mrs. Weasley's actions were understandable, she did not believe that Molly had the right to reprimand her son about something she had no idea about.

**"You're barely of age, any of you! It's utter nonsense, if Dumbledore needed work doing, he had the whole Order at his command! Harry, you must have misunderstood him. Probably he was telling you something he wanted done, and you took it to mean that he wanted you—"**

The others were thinking the same as Lily now.

**"I didn't misunderstand," said Harry flatly. "It's got to be me." He handed her back the single stock he was supposed to be identifying, which was patterned with golden bulrushes. "And that's not mine, I don't support Puddlemere United."**

"Who does he support then?" asked James slightly randomly.

**"Oh, of course not," said Mrs. Weasley with a sudden and rather unnerving return to her casual tone. "I should have realized. Well, Harry, while we've still got you here, you won't mind helping with the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, will you? There's still so much to do."**

"She's not," said Sirius disbelievingly.

"She is," Remus told him.

"What's she doing?" asked Lily, cursing herself for sounding so stupid.

"You'll see!" they said in unison.

**"No—I—of course not," said Harry, disconcerted by this sudden change of subject.**

**"Sweet of you," she replied, and she smiled as she left the scullery.**

"Damn it, Harry!" James muttered.

**From that moment on, Mrs. Weasley keep Harry, Ron, and Hermione so busy with preparations for the wedding that they hardly had any time to think.**

It dawned on Lily what was going on.

**The kindest explanation of this behaviour would have been that Mrs. Weasley wanted to distract them all from thoughts of Mad-Eye and the terrors of their recent journey. After two days of non-stop cutlery cleaning, of colour-matching favours, ribbons, and flowers, of de-gnoming the garden and helping Mrs. Weasley cook vast batches of canapés, however, Harry started to suspect her of a different motive. All the jobs she handed out seems to keep him, Ron, and Hermione away from one another; he had not had a chance to speak to the two of them alone since the first night, when he had told them about Voldemort torturing Ollivander.**

**"I think Mum thinks that if she can stop the three of you getting together and planning, she'll be able to delay you leaving," Ginny told Harry in an undertone, as they laid the table for dinner on the third night of his stay.**

"But that's horrible!" cried Lily, aghast. "She might not like it, but she should at least acknowledge they're going! They need time to plan, otherwise she's endangering them further!"

**"And then what does she thinks's going to happen?" Harry muttered. "Someone else might kill off Voldemort while she's holding us here making vol-au-vents?"**

"Shouldn't have said that," Sirius reprimanded.

"He'll make Ginny worry," Remus nodded.

**He had spoken without thinking, and saw Ginny's face whiten.**

"Told you," they both muttered.

**"So it's true?" she said, "That's what you're trying to do?"**

**"I—not—I was joking," said Harry evasively.**

"I believe you," James snorted.

**They stared at each other, and there was something more than shock in Ginny's expression. Suddenly Harry became aware that this was the first time that he had been alone with her since their stolen hours in secluded corners of the Hogwarts grounds.**

"Well that's awkward," Lily murmured. "I'm not quite sure I wanted to know that."

**He was sure she was remembering them too. Both of them jumped as the door opened, and Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, and Bill walked in.**

"Ah good, diffuse the tension!" Sirius cried dramatically.

**Other Order members often joined them for dinner now, because the Burrow had replaced number twelve, Grimmauld Place as the headquarters.**

Sirius choked on his own spit. "Excuse me?" he spluttered.

James read it again.

"What's so amazing about that?" Lily asked curiously.

"It's where Padfoot used to live," Remus told her, also in a state of shock.

"Used to?" Lily wondered but Remus shook his head at her, warning her not to pursue the matter further.

**Mr. Weasley had explained that after the death of Dumbledore, their Secret-Keeper, each of the people to whom Dumbledore had confided Grimmauld Place's location had become a Secret-Keeper in turn. "And as there are around twenty of us, that greatly dilutes the power of the Fidelius Charm. Twenty times as many opportunities for the Death Eaters to get the secret out of somebody. We can't expect it to hold much longer."**

"And being inside it once the Death Eaters find out would be _very _dangerous," James agreed.

**"But surely Snape will have told the Death Eaters the address by now?" asked Harry.**

"Good point," complimented Remus, impressed by Harry's thinking.

**"Well, Mad-Eye set up a couple of curses against Snape in case he turns up there again. **

"I _want _him to turn up there now," Sirius sniggered. Lily did not disagree; it seemed her friendship with Snape had gone down the drain.

**We hope they'll be strong enough both to keep him out and to bind his tongue if he tries to talk about the place, but we can't be sure. It would have been insane to keep using the place as headquarters now that its protection has become so shaky."**

"Is everybody paranoid?" James asked amusedly.

**The kitchen was so crowded that evening it was difficult to manoeuvre knives and forks. **

"Couldn't they have used an extension charm?" asked Lily thoughtfully.

**Harry found himself crammed beside Ginny; the unsaid things that had just passed between them made him wish a few more people had separated them. He was trying so hard to avoid brushing her arm he could barely cut his chicken.**

"Ah, young love!" Sirius laughed along with the others.

"Theirs is certainly an awkward relationship," Remus agreed.

"Well at least he doesn't proclaim his love for her five times a day," Lily huffed, causing them all to laugh again.

James bit his lip, upset that she had not noticed his efforts to stop doing that.

**"No news about Mad-Eye?" Harry asked Bill.**

**"Nothing," replied Bill.**

**They had not been able to hold a funeral for Moody, because Bill and Lupin had failed to recover his body. **

"They could just have a memorial," Remus suggested.

**It had been difficult to know where he might have fallen, given the darkness and the confusion of the battle.**

**"The ****_Daily Prophet_**** hasn't said a word about him dying or about finding the body," Bill went on. "But that doesn't mean much. It's keeping a lot quiet these days."**

"Which is a shame. The public really need an unbiased account of what is happening when we're at war," Lily commented.

**"And they still haven't called a hearing about all the underage magic I used escaping the Death Eaters?" Harry called across the table to Mr. Weasley, who shook his head. "Because they know I had no choice or because they don't want me to tell the world Voldemort attacked me?"**

"Don't get your hopes up," muttered Sirius darkly.

**"The latter, I think. Scrimgeour doesn't want to admit that You-Know-Who is as powerful as he is, nor that Azkaban's seen a mass breakout."**

"The perfect Minister of Magic then," James snorted. "That's all they do – make mistakes and cover them up."

**"Yeah, why tell the public the truth?" said Harry, clenching his knife so tightly that the faint scars on the back of his right hand stood out, white against his skin: ****_I must not tell lies._**

"How do you get scars like that?" exclaimed Lily.

"Sounds like a Blood Quill," James contributed. Seeing Remus and Lily's confused looks, he elaborated. "You wouldn't know about them because they are rarely known of outside pure-blooded families. They are also against the law except using them for blood contracts."

"They basically use the writer's blood," Sirius continued, "which is why they are used for blood contracts. But those don't sound like scars from one of those. You rarely see scars from Blood Quills because no-one uses them enough to get them."

"So how did he get them then?" asked Lily angrily, but no-one answered her.

**"Isn't anyone at the Ministry prepared to stand up to him?" asked Ron angrily.**

"There should be," Remus frowned.

**"Of course, Ron, but people are terrified." Mr. Weasley replied, "terrified that they will be next to disappear, their children the next to be attacked! There are nasty rumours going around; I for one don't believe the Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts resigned. She hasn't been seen for weeks now. Meanwhile Scrimgeour remains shut up in his office all day. I just hope he's working on a plan." **

"Doubt it," Lily muttered, still fuming from the use of a Blood Quill on her son.

**There was a pause in which Mrs. Weasley magicked the empty plates onto the work surface and served apple tart.**

**"We must decide 'ow you will be disguised, 'Arry," said Fleur, once everyone had pudding. "For ze wedding," she added, when he looked confused. **

"Is that all she thinks about?" asked James, amused.

"She's excited, of course it's going to be on her mind!" Lily reprimanded him.

**"Of course, none of our guests are Death Eaters, but we cannot guarantee zat zey will not let something slip after zey 'ave 'ad champagne."**

"That's a very good point," put in Remus, impressed.

"Yeah – she doesn't seem it, but she's very practical," Sirius agreed with him.

**From this, Harry gathered that she still suspected Hagrid.**

"I don't think that's entirely correct, she's merely concerned for their safety," Lily shook her head.

**"Yes, good point," said Mrs. Weasley from the top of the table, where she sat, spectacles perched on the end of her nose, scanning an immense list of jobs that she had scribbled on a very long piece of parchment. "Now, Ron, have you cleaned out your room yet?"**

"Why would he have to tidy his bedroom?" asked Sirius, confused.

**"Why?" exclaimed Ron, slamming his spoon down and glaring at his mother. "Why does my room have to be cleaned out? Harry and I are both fine with it the way it is!"**

"Exactly!" Sirius nodded, his eyes wide.

**"We are holding your brother's wedding here in a few days' time, young man—"**

**"And are they getting married in my bedroom?" asked Ron furiously. **

The room was filled with laughter.

**"No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left—"**

"He said that to his _mother_?" James whistled.

"He's either very brave or very stupid," Remus deduced.

"Or both," Sirius agreed, nodding his head.

**"Don't you talk to your mother like that," said Mr. Weasley firmly, "And do as you're told."**

"That's the only punishment he got?" asked Sirius, his mouth hanging open. "I would have been yelled into the next century!"

"Not everyone has your mother, mate," James grinned. "Though I probably would have been yelled at as well, but not into the next century," he reflected.

**Ron scowled at both his parents, then picked up his spoon and attacked the last few mouthfuls of his apple tart.**

**"I can help, some of it's my mess." Harry told Ron, but Mrs. Weasley cut across him.**

"Not a chance," Remus groaned.

**"No, Harry, dear, I'd much rather you helped Arthur muck out the chickens, and Hermione, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd change the sheets for Monsieur and Madame Delacour, you know they're arriving at eleven tomorrow morning."**

"I really wish she wasn't doing this," Lily moaned.

**But as it turned out, there was very little to do for the chickens, "There's no need to, er, mention it to Molly," Mr. Weasley told Harry, blocking his access to the coop, **

"Okay, what's he doing?" asked Remus warily.

**"but, er, Ted Tonks sent me most of what was left of Sirius's bike, **

"Cool!" cried Sirius excitedly.

**and, er, I'm hiding—that's to say, keeping—it in here. **

Laughter broke out.

**Fantastic stuff! There's an exhaust gaskin, as I believe it's called, the most magnificent battery, and it'll be a great opportunity to find out how brakes work. I'm going to try and put it all back together again when Molly's not—I mean, when I've got time."**

"I love Arthur!" James laughed delightedly. "Not as much as you though, Evans dear."

"Shove off, Potter," Lily hissed coldly, her eyes hardening.

"I thought you were going to stop doing that?" Sirius whispered to James in frustration.

"Habit," James told him, also annoyed with himself.

**When they returned to the house, Mrs. Weasley was nowhere to be seen, so Harry slipped upstairs to Ron's attic bedroom.**

"That would sound so weird taken out of context," Sirius snorted.

**"I'm doing it, I'm doing—! Oh, it's you," said Ron in relief, as Harry entered the room. Ron lay back down on the bed, which he had evidently just vacated. **

"If Harry had been Mrs Weasley, wouldn't she have been able to tell whether he'd been tidying depending on how tidy the room was?" asked Remus, confused.

"Maybe Ron's a naturally slow tidier," Lily shrugged.

**The room was just as messy as it had been all week; the only change was that Hermione was now sitting in the far corner, her fluffy ginger cat, Crookshanks, at her feet, sorting books, some of which Harry recognized as his own, into two enormous piles.**

"Definitely the Remus of the group," James nodded.

**"Hi, Harry," she said, as he sat down on his camp bed.**

**"And how did you manage to get away?"**

**"Oh, Ron's mum forgot that she asked Ginny and me to change the sheets yesterday," said Hermione. She threw ****_Numerology and Grammatica_**** onto one pile and ****_Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_**** onto the other.**

"No prizes for guessing which is the take pile," Sirius put in dryly.

**"We were just talking about Mad-Eye," Ron told Harry. "I reckon he might have survived."**

"How?" asked Remus sceptically.

**"But Bill saw him hit by the Killing Curse," said Harry.**

**"Yeah, but Bill was under attack too," said Ron. "How can he be sure what he saw?"**

**"Even if the Killing curse missed, Mad Eye still fell about a thousand feet," said Hermione, now weighing ****_Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland_**** in her hand.**

"Take it with you!" James begged.

"How the hell is that going to help defeat Voldemort?" asked Lily, annoyed.

**"He could have used a Shield Charm—"**

**"Fleur said his wand was blasted out of his hand," said Harry.**

**"Well, all right, if you want him to be dead," said Ron grumpily, punching his pillow into a more comfortable shape.**

"They do seem to be shooting his ideas down a lot," Sirius noted.

**"Of course we don't want him to be dead!" said Hermione, looking shocked. "It's dreadful that he's dead! But we're being realistic!"**

**For the first time, Harry imagined Mad-Eye's body, broken as Dumbledore's had been, yet with that one eye still whizzing in its socket. He felt a stab of revulsion mixed with a bizarre desire to laugh.**

"Your son might be a little crazy," Remus told Lily and James solemnly.

"Rather like you, Moony," Sirius agreed.

Nobody contradicted him.

**"The Death Eaters probably tidied up after themselves, that's why no one's found him," said Ron wisely.**

**"Yeah," said Harry. "Like Barty Crouch, turned into a bone and buried in Hagrid's front garden. **

"What?" cried Lily in disbelief. "That's horrible!"

**They probably transfigured Moody and stuffed him—"**

"Harry has a rather disturbing mind," put in James, looking slightly sick.

**"Don't!" squealed Hermione. Startled, Harry looked over just in time to see her burst into tears over her copy of ****_Spellman's Syllabary_****.**

"Well done, Harry," Sirius said sarcastically.

**"Oh no," said Harry, struggling to get up from the old camp bed. "Hermione, I wasn't trying to upset—"**

**But with a great creaking of rusty bedsprings, Ron bounded off the bed and got there first. One arm around Hermione, he fished in his jeans pocket and withdrew a revolting-looking handkerchief that he had used to clean out the over earlier. Hastily pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the rag and said, "****_Tergeo_****."**

"Couldn't he just have summoned a new handkerchief?" Remus groaned.

"At least he tried," Lily shrugged.

**The wand siphoned off most of the grease. **

"Most of it?"

"Give the man some credit, Moons, at least he tried!" James shot in the wolf's direction.

**Looking rather pleased with himself, Ron handed the slightly smoking handkerchief to Hermione. "Oh . . . thanks, Ron. . . . I'm sorry. . . . " She blew her nose and hiccupped. "It's just so awf-ful, isn't it? R-right after Dumbledore . . . I j-just n-never imagined Mad-Eye dying, somehow, he seemed so tough!"**

**"Yeah, I know," said Ron, giving her a squeeze. "But you know what he'd say to us if he was here?"**

**"'C-constant vigilance,"' said Hermione, mopping her eyes.**

**"That's right," said Ron, nodding. "He'd tell us to learn from what happened to him. And what I've learned is not to trust that cowardly little squit, Mundungus."**

Laughter filled the room.

"He didn't have to lean that, that's common knowledge!" Sirius snorted.

**Hermione gave a shaky laugh and leaned forward to pick up two more books. A second later, Ron had snatched his arm back from around her shoulders; she had dropped ****_The Monster Book of Monsters_**** on his foot. The book had broken free from its restraining belt and snapped viciously at Ron's ankle.**

"How romantic," James laughed, amused.

**"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Hermione cried as Harry wrenched the book from Ron's leg and retied it shut.**

"Harry plays the hero – again," Remus said in a commentator voice, sending the others into fits of giggles.

**"What are you doing with all those books anyway?" Ron asked, limping back to his bed.**

**"Just trying to decide which ones to take with us," said Hermione. "When we're looking for the Horcruxes."**

Three quarters of the room sent Sirius annoyed glances, who grinned smugly.

**"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library."**

The laughter cropped up again.

"I'm l-loving this ch-ch-chapter," Sirius tried to speak through his laughter, failing miserably.

**"Ha ha," said Hermione, looking down at ****_Spellman's Syllabary_****. "I wonder . . . will we need to translate runes? It's possible. . . . I think we'd better take it, to be safe."**

**She dropped the syllabary onto the larger of the two piles and picked up ****_Hogwarts: A History_****.**

"Somehow I doubt that would be useful," said Lily sceptically.

"If she's anything like you, Lily, she'll take it anyway," Remus told her.

**"Listen," said Harry.**

**He had sat up straight. Ron and Hermione looked at him with similar mixtures of resignation and defiance.**

"They know him well," James commented approvingly.

**"I know you said after Dumbledore's funeral that you wanted to come with me," Harry began.**

**"Here he goes," Ron said to Hermione, rolling his eyes.**

**"As we knew he would," she sighed, turning back to the books.**

**"You know, I think I ****_will_**** take ****_Hogwarts: A History_****. Even if we're not going back there, I don't think I'd feel right if I didn't have it with—"**

Remus grinned smugly at Lily, who rolled her eyes at him.

**"Listen!" said Harry again.**

**"No, Harry, you listen," said Hermione. "We're coming with you. That was decided months ago—years, really."**

**"But—"**

**"Shut up," Ron advised him.**

"Words of wisdom," Sirius nodded.

**"—are you sure you've thought this through?" Harry persisted.**

"Yes, Harry, they have. Just drop it!" Lily cried, exasperated.

**"Let's see," said Hermione, slamming Travels with Trolls onto the discarded pile with a rather fierce look. "I've been packing for days, so we're ready to leave at a moment's notice, which for your information has included doing some pretty difficult magic, not to mention smuggling Mad-Eye's whole stock of Polyjuice Potion right under Ron's mum's nose. **

"How did they manage that?" asked Remus, awed.

**I've also modified my parents' memories so that they're convinced that they're really called Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and that their life's ambition is to move to Australia, which they have now done. That's to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down and interrogate them about me—or you, because unfortunately, I've told them quite a bit about you.**

**"Assuming I survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, I'll find Mum and Dad and lift the enchantment. If I don't—well, I think I've cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. Wendell and Monica Wilkins don't know that they've got a daughter, you see."**

All four of them gasped as if they had been slapped.

"That's horrible!" Lily whispered, imagining having to do that to her family.

"Harry's got really good friends," James agreed, Sirius and Remus nodding along with him.

**Hermione's eyes were swimming with tears again. Ron got back off the bed, put his arms around her once more, and frowned at Harry as though reproaching him for lack of tact. Harry could not think of anything to say, not least because it was highly unusual for Ron to be teaching anyone else tact.**

No-one had the energy to laugh – or smile, for that matter.

**"I—Hermione, I'm sorry—I didn't—"**

**"Didn't realize that Ron and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do. Ron, show Harry what you've done."**

"Do I want to know?" asked Lily nervously.

**"Nah, he's just eaten," said Ron.**

"Probably not," Remus told her.

**"Go on, he needs to know!"**

**"Oh, all right. Harry, come here."**

"I'm intrigued," Sirius leaned forwards.

"You know that word?" Remus feigned shock.

Sirius glared at him. "You will treat me with respect. The first three letters of my name spell 'sir' you know."

"Right," Remus snorted, but James cut him off by reading again.

**For the second time Ron withdrew his arm from around Hermione and stumped over to the door.**

**"C'mon."**

**"Why?" Harry asked, following Ron out of the room onto the tiny landing.**

"He's not exactly patient is he?" asked James.

**"****_Descendo_****," muttered Ron, pointing his wand at the low ceiling. A hatch opened right over their heads and a ladder slid down to their feet. A horrible, half-sucking, half-moaning sound came out of the square hole, along with an unpleasant smell like open drains.**

"Lovely," Lily grimaced.

**"That's your ghoul, isn't it?" asked Harry, who had never actually met the creature that sometimes disrupted the nightly silence.**

"There's always the Silencing Charm," Remus suggested.

**"Yeah, it is," said Ron, climbing the ladder. "Come and have a look at him."**

**Harry followed Ron up the few short steps into the tiny attic space. His head and shoulders were in the room before he caught sight of the creature curled up a few feet from him, fast asleep in the gloom with its large mouth wide open.**

**"But it . . . it looks . . . do ghouls normally wear pyjamas?"**

"What do you think?" asked Sirius sarcastically.

**"No," said Ron. "Nor have they usually got red hair or that number of pustules." **

"Always good to know," James snorted.

**Harry contemplated the thing, slightly revolted. It was human in shape and size, and was wearing what, now that Harry's eyes became used to the darkness, was clearly an old pair of Ron's pyjamas. **

"That explains the chapter title," Lily shrugged.

**he was also sure that ghouls were generally rather slimy and bald, rather than distinctly hairy and covered in angry purple blisters. "He's me, see?" said Ron.**

**"No," said Harry. "I don't."**

"He's a bright boy, isn't he?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Lay off him, Moons. As if you would know what was going on," James defended his son.

**"I'll explain it back in my room, the smell's getting to me," said Ron. They climbed back down the ladder, which Ron returned to the ceiling, and rejoined Hermione, who was still sorting books.**

"How many books do they have?" asked Sirius disbelievingly.

**"Once we've left, the ghoul's going to come and live down here in my room," said Ron. "I think he's really looking forward to it—well, it's hard to tell, because all he can do is moan and drool—but he nods a lot when you mention it. Anyway, he's going to be me with spattergroit. Good, eh?"**

**Harry merely looked his confusion.**

"How do you look confusion?" wondered Sirius, experimenting.

James observed him with amusement. "You fail."

**"It is!" said Ron, clearly frustrated that Harry had not grasped the brilliance of the plan. "Look, when we three don't turn up at Hogwarts again, everyone's going to think Hermione and I must be with you, right? Which means the Death Eaters will go straight for our families to see if they've got information on where you are."**

"And that would be bad if they didn't have an excuse," Lily nodded, starting to grasp the plan.

**"But hopefully it'll look like I've gone away with Mum and Dad; a lot of Muggle-borns are talking about going into hiding at the moment," said Hermione.**

"So she's sorted," Remus approved.

**"We can't hide my whole family, it'll look too fishy and they can't all leave their jobs," said Ron. "So we're going to put out the story that I'm seriously ill with spattergroit, which is why I can't go back to school. If anyone comes calling to investigate, Mum or Dad can show then the ghoul in my bed, covered in pustules. Spattergroit's really contagious, so they're not going to want to go near him. It won't matter that he can't say anything, either, because apparently you can't once the fungus has spread to your uvula."**

"That is actually a really good plan," Lily acknowledged, impressed.

**"And your mum and dad are in on this plan?" asked Harry.**

**"Dad is. He helped Fred and George transform the ghoul. Mum . . . well, you've seen what she's like. She won't accept we're going till we've gone."**

Lily bit her lip in worry.

**There was silence in the room, broken only by gentle thuds as Hermione continued to throw books into one pile or the other. Ron sat watching her, and Harry looked from one to the other. The measures they had taken to protect their families made him realize, more than anything else could have done, that they really were going to come with him and that they knew exactly how dangerous that would be. He wanted to tell them what that meant to him, but he simply could not find words important enough.**

"I'm sure they understand," James spoke reassuringly.

**Through the silence came the muffled sounds of Mrs. Weasley shouting from four floors below.**

"She's that loud?" murmured Sirius, impressed. "She could give my mother a run for her money."

**"Ginny's probably left a speck of dust on a poxy napkin ring," said Ron. "I dunno why the Delacours have got to come two days before the weddings."**

**"Fleur's sister's a bridesmaid, she needs to be here for the rehearsal, and she's too young to come on her own," said Hermione, as she pored indecisively over ****_Break with a Banshee_****.**

"Why would they need that book?" asked James.

"Speaking of which, how are they going to take so many books with them?" Sirius spoke up. No-one had answers for either questions.

**"Well, guests aren't going to help Mum's stress levels," said Ron. **

"**What we really need to decide," said Hermione, tossing ****_Defensive Magical Theory _****into the bin without a second glance and picking up ****_An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe_****, "is where we're going after we leave here. I know you said you wanted to go to Godric's Hollow first, Harry, and I understand why, but . . . well . . . shouldn't we make the Horcruxes our priority?"**

"Just tell us what they are!" Lily cried in annoyance. All she got was a mysterious grin.

**"If we knew where any of the Horcruxes were, I'd agree with you," said Harry, who did not believe that Hermione really understood his desire to Godric's Hollow. His parent's graves were only part of the attraction: **

"Why would he want to see our… our graves?" James wondered.

"I dunno, Prongs. Maybe he just wants to see where you lived," Sirius murmured.

**he had a strong, though inexplicable, feeling that the place held answers for him. Perhaps it was simply because it was there that he had survived Voldemort's Killing Curse; **

"He did what?"

The same cry issued from everyone's mouths; how in hell had Harry managed to do _that_?

**now that he was facing the challenge of repeating the feat, Harry was drawn to the place where it happened, wanting to understand.**

**"Don't you think there's a possibility that Voldemort's keeping a watch on Godric's Hollow?" Hermione asked. "He might expect you to go back and visit your parents' graves once you're free to go wherever you like?"**

"He wouldn't expect that," Remus spoke up suddenly. "He has no concept of care or love. That's his weakness."

**This had not occurred to Harry. While he struggled to find a counterargument, Ron spoke up, evidently following his own train of thought.**

**"This R.A.B. person," he said, "You know, the one who stole the real locket?"**

"We've heard of him before," said James thoughtfully. "Does anyone have any idea who he is?"

"He has the same initials as Regulus," Sirius said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Regulus Arcturus Black."

"Poor guy – that's a worse name than yours," Remus snorted. "But it could be him, I suppose," he added as an afterthought.

**Hermione nodded.**

**"He said in his note that he was going to destroy it, didn't he?"**

**Harry dragged his rucksack toward him and pulled out the fake Horcrux in which R.A.B.'s note was still folded.**

**"'****_I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can_****,'" Harry read out.**

_Could it be Reggie? _Sirius wondered. Maybe his brother had finally come around, and had worked out that Voldemort's notions were _bad_. But Regulus had never really shown much backbone (which was why he was in Slytherin, not Gryffindor); would he really have the guts to stand up to one of the most powerful and dangerous wizards of all time? Sirius wished he could talk to his brother about this – he knew better, however, to broach the subject, knowing how fragile their relationship was.

**"Well, what if he ****_did_**** finish it off?" said Ron.**

**"Or she," interposed Hermione.**

"Feminist," James coughed.

**"Whichever," said Ron, "it'd be one less for us to do!"**

**"Yes, but we're still going to have to try and trace the real locket, aren't we?" said Hermione, "To find out whether or not it's destroyed."**

"They really do seem to shoot his ideas down a lot," Lily said disapprovingly.

**"And once we get hold of it, how ****_do_**** you destroy a Horcrux?" asked Ron.**

**"Well," said Hermione, "I've been researching that."**

**"How?" asked Harry. "I didn't think there were any books on Horcruxes in the library?"**

"Which is why we have no idea what the _hell _they are," Remus muttered, glaring at Sirius.

"How you know about them, anyway?" asked Lily, interested. Sirius grimaced.

"There was a book on them in Mother's library. I was bored one day in the holidays and read it."

"Well that just completely destroyed your image," James snorted.

"No, I've maintained it – I wasn't allowed to read this book, see. And I wish I hadn't, except for the bonus of knowing something you don't," Sirius replied in a sing-song voice.

**"There weren't," said Hermione, who had turned pink. "Dumbledore removed them all, but he—he didn't destroy them."**

**Ron sat up straight, wide-eyed.**

As did James and Sirius.

**"It—it wasn't stealing!" said Hermione, looking from Harry to Ron with a kind of desperation. "They were still library books, even if Dumbledore had taken them off the shelves. Anyway, if he ****_really_**** didn't want anyone to get at them, I'm sure he would have made it much harder to—"**

**"Get to the point!" said Ron.**

"Yeah, what did Little Miss Perfect do?" asked James, fidgeting in anticipation.

**"Well . . . it was easy," said Hermione in a small voice. "I just did a Summoning Charm. You know—****_accio_****. And. . . they zoomed out of Dumbledore's study window right into the girls' dormitory."**

"Well, that was too easy!" Lily cried, scandalised. "Dumbledore should've known better!"

"I'm pretty sure he wanted them to have the books, Lily," Remus told her. "They need the information for the mission they're on. Besides, I'm sure he was more careful than that. He probably made the Summoning Charm only work if it was cast by Harry, Ron or Hermione."

Lily calmed down a bit, and James continued reading.

**"But when did you do this?" Harry asked, regarding Hermione with a mixture of admiration and incredulity.**

**"Just after his—Dumbledore's—funeral," said Hermione in an even smaller voice. "Right after we agreed we'd leave school and go and look for the Horcruxes. When I went back upstairs to get my things it—it just occurred to me that the more we knew about them, the better it would be . . . and I was alone in there . . . so I tried . . . and it worked. They flew straight in through the open window and I—I packed them."**

"I'm proud of her," Sirius commented, still in a state of shock.

**She swallowed and then said imploringly, "I can't believe Dumbledore would have been angry, it's not as though we're going to use the information to make a Horcrux, is it?"**

"Which we still don't know what is," Remus moaned.

**"Can you hear us complaining?" said Ron. "Where are these books anyway?"**

**Hermione rummaged for a moment and then extracted from the pile a large volume, bound in faded black leather. She looked a little nauseated and held it as gingerly as if it were something recently dead.**

**"This is the one that gives explicit instructions on how to make a Horcrux. ****_Secrets of the Darkest Art_****—it's a horrible book, really awful, full of evil magic. **

"I know," Sirius looked slightly sick, obviously not wanting to relive the memory of reading it.

**I wonder when Dumbledore removed it from the library . . . . If he didn't do it until he was headmaster, I bet Voldemort got all the instruction he needed from here."**

**"Why did he have to ask Slughorn how to make a Horcrux, then, if he'd already read that?" asked Ron.**

**"He only approached Slughorn to find out what would happen if you split your soul into seven," said Harry. **

"Split your soul!" cried James. "Why?"

Sirius sighed. "If someone never wants to die, one of the darkest things they can do is make a Horcrux. You have to split your soul and place it in an object. While it stays inside that object, you can never truly die. Make one is ghastly. Making seven – you are practically not human anymore."

Remus looked revolted. "So how _do _you make them?"

Sirius grimaced. "You have to commit murder. It's the only way."

**"Dumbledore was sure Riddle already knew how to make a Horcrux but the time he asked Slughorn about them. I think you're right, Hermione, that could easily have been where he got the information."**

"Certain books really shouldn't be available to the public," Lily muttered angrily.

**"And the more I've read about them," said Hermione, "the more horrible they seem, and the less I can believe that he actually made six. **

"So he only made six, not seven," James said, relieved. "That's not as bad as having to destroy seven."

"It's still nearly impossible though," Remus bit his lip.

**It warns in this book how unstable you make the rest of your soul by ripping it, and that's just by making one Horcrux!"**

**Harry remembered what Dumbledore had said about Voldemort moving beyond "usual evil."**

"That is _definitely _moving beyond 'usual evil'," Lily muttered, disgusted.

**"Isn't there any way of putting yourself back together?" Ron asked.**

**"Yes," said Hermione with a hollow smile, "but it would be excruciatingly painful."**

"Nothing Voldemort would do then," Sirius said grimly.

**"Why? How do you do it?" asked Harry.**

**"Remorse," said Hermione. "You've got to really feel what you've done. There's a footnote. Apparently the pain of it can destroy you. I can't see Voldemort attempting it somehow, can you?"**

"'Voldemort' and 'remorse' don't fit in the same sentence, unless the word 'never' is in there as well," James agreed.

**"No," said Ron, before Harry could answer. "So does it say how to destroy Horcruxes in that book?"**

"The most important part," Remus nodded.

**"Yes," said Hermione, now turning the fragile pages as if examining rotting entrails, "because it warns Dark wizards how strong they have to make the enchantments on them. From all that I've read, what Harry did to Riddle's diary was one of the really foolproof ways of destroying a Horcrux."**

"Which is?" Lily asked.

**"What, stabbing it with a basilisk fang?" asked Harry.**

"That, it seems," James told her shakily, turning pale along with the other three.

"Does your son have a death wish?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And where the hell are they going to find a basilisk fang, anyway?" Sirius wondered.

**"Oh well, lucky we've got such a large supply of basilisk fangs, then," said Ron. "I was wondering what we were going to do with them."**

"The opportunity for that remark just presented itself," Sirius shrugged.

**"It doesn't have to be a basilisk fang," said Hermione patiently. "It has to be something so destructive that the Horcrux can't repair itself. Basilisk venom only has one antidote, and it's incredibly rare—"**

**"—phoenix tears," said Harry, nodding.**

"How does he know that?" asked Lily faintly. "He couldn't have just learnt it normally, could he?"

"Lily, he's a Potter. Potters…" Remus started.

"Are crazy," Sirius supplied.

**"Exactly," said Hermione, "Our problem is that there are very few substances as destructive as basilisk venom, and they're all dangerous to carry around with you. That's a problem we're going to have to solve though, because ripping, smashing, or crushing a Horcrux won't do the trick. You've got to put it beyond magical repair."**

**"But even if we wreck the thing it lives in," said Ron, "Why can't the bit of soul in it just go and live in something else?"**

"Another good point, made by Ron," James noted.

**"Because a Horcrux is the complete opposite of a human being." Seeing that Harry and Ron looked thoroughly confused, Hermione hurried on, "Look, if I picked up a sword right now, Ron, and ran you through with it, I wouldn't damage your soul at all."**

"Lovely example," Remus snorted.

**"Which would be a real comfort to me, I'm sure," said Ron. Harry laughed.**

"That was a random fact. Is it really that important that Harry laughed?" asked Sirius.

**"It should be, actually! But my point is that whatever happens to your body, your soul will survive untouched," said Hermione. "But it's the other way round with a Horcrux. The fragment of soul inside it depends on it's container, its enchanted body, for survival. It can't exist without it."**

**"That diary sort of died when I stabbed it," said Harry, **

"That was an eloquent remark," Lily grinned.

**remembering ink pouring like blood from the punctured pages, and the screams of the piece of Voldemort's soul as it vanished.**

Every occupant of the room shuddered.

**"And once the diary was properly destroyed, the bit of soul trapped in it could no longer exist. Ginny tried to get rid of the diary before you did, flushing it away, but obviously it came back good as new."**

"Er – what's Ginny got to do with this?" asked James confusedly.

**"Hang on," said Ron, frowning. "The bit of soul in that diary was possessing Ginny, wasn't it? **

"That's what," Remus told the stag animagus softly.

**How does that work, then?"**

**"While the magical container is still intact, the bit of soul inside it can flit in and out of someone if they get too close to the object. I don't mean holding it for long, it's nothing to do with touching it," she added before Ron could speak.**

**"I mean close emotionally. Ginny poured her heart out into that diary, she made herself incredibly vulnerable. You're in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on the Horcrux."**

"That's horrible."

Lily's words were echoed in everyone's thoughts.

**"I wonder how Dumbledore destroyed the ring?" said Harry. "Why didn't I ask him? I never really . . . "**

**His voice tailed away: he was thinking of all the things he should have asked Dumbledore, and of how, since the headmaster had died, it seemed to Harry that he had wasted so many opportunities when Dumbledore had been alive, to find out more . . . to find out everything . . . .**

"Nobody really has the idea to ask Dumbledore anything," Sirius shrugged. "You just are so reassured that he knows what he's doing. I guess when he's gone we'll remember all those things we should have asked, that we never thought to."

**The silence was shattered as the bedroom door flew open with a wall-shaking crash. **

The group, which had been sinking lower into their seats through the course of the chapter, sat up in alarm.

**Hermione shrieked and dropped ****_Secrets of the Darkest Art_****. Crookshanks streaked under the bed, hissing indignantly; Ron jumped off the bed, skidded on a discarded Chocolate Frog wrapper, and smacked his head on the opposite wall; and Harry instinctively dived for his wand before realizing that he was looking up at Mrs. Weasley, whose hair was dishevelled and whose face was contorted with rage.**

They sank back into their chairs, relieved.

"Nothing dangerous then," Lily murmured.

"Dangerous? An angry Molly is more dangerous than Voldemort, Evans," James told her.

"Lily," she snapped.

"I'm sorry?" James asked, confused.

"Lily. My name is Lily, Potter, and I suggest you use it," the red-head said, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"Um, okay, Lily?" James said hesitantly, making it sound like a question.

**"I'm so sorry to break up this cosy little gathering," she said, her voice trembling. "I'm sure you all need your rest . . . but there are wedding presents stacked in my room that need sorting out and I was under the impression that you had agreed to help."**

**"Oh yes," said Hermione, looking terrified **

"As she should be," Sirius agreed.

**as she leapt on her feet, sending books flying in every direction, "we will . . . we're sorry . . . " With an anguished look at Harry and Ron, Hermione, hurried out of the room after Mrs. Weasley.**

"She really should let them plan," Remus voiced his concerns.

**"It's like being a house-elf," complained Ron in an undertone, still massaging his head as he and Harry followed. "Except without the job satisfaction. The sooner this wedding's over, the happier I'll be."**

**"Yeah," said Harry, "then we'll have nothing to do except find Horcruxes. . . . It'll be like a holiday, won't it?"**

**Ron started to laugh, but at the sight of the enormous pile of wedding presents waiting for them in Mrs. Weasley's room, stopped quite abruptly.**

The sentence was followed by snorts, which gradually escalated to full-blown laughter.

**The Delacours arrived the following morning at eleven o'clock. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were feeling quite resentful toward Fleur's family by this time, and it was with ill grace that Ron stumped back upstairs to put on matching socks, and Harry attempted to flatten his hair. **

"Not going to work!" The three marauders sang, causing Lily to give them a slightly scared look – it was odd seeing three teenagers singing so childishly.

**Once they had all been deemed smart enough, they trooped out into the sunny backyard to await the visitors.**

**Harry had never seen the place looking so tidy. The rusty cauldrons and old Wellington boots that usually littered the steps by the back door were gone, replaced by two new Flutterby bushes standing either side of the door in large pots, though there was no breeze, the leaves waved lazily, giving an attractive rippling effect. The chickens had been shut away, the yard had been swept, and the nearby garden had been pruned, plucked, and generally spruced up, although Harry, who liked it in its overgrown state, thought that it looked rather forlorn without its usually contingent of capering gnomes.**

"What have they done to the front garden?" asked Sirius in horror.

**He had lost track of how many security enchantments had been placed upon The Burrow by both the Order and the Ministry; **

"They're not completely incompetent then," Lily muttered.

**all he knew was that it was no longer possible for anybody to travel by magic directly into the place. Mr. Weasley had therefore gone to meet the Delacours on top of a nearby hill, where they were to arrive by Portkey. The first sound of their approach was an unusually high-pitched laugh, which turned out to be coming from Mr. Weasley, who appeared at the gate moments later, laden with luggage and leading a beautiful blonde woman in long, leaf-green robes, who could only be Fleur's mother.**

"Who else _would _she be?" asked James sardonically.

**"****_Maman_****!" cried Fleur, rushing forward to embrace her. "Papa!"**

**Monsieur Delacour was nowhere near as attractive as his wife; he was a head shorter and extremely plump, with a little, pointed black beard. However, he looked good-natured. Bouncing toward Mrs. Weasley on high-heeled boots, he kissed her twice on each cheek, leaving her flustered.**

**"You 'ave been to much trouble," he said in a deep voice. "Fleur tells us you 'ave been working very 'ard."**

**"Oh, it's been nothing, nothing!" trilled Mrs. Weasley. "No trouble at all."**

Yeah – I'm sure the kids will take _that _well," Remus laughed.

**Ron relieved his feelings by aiming a kick at a gnome who was peering out from behind one of the new Flutterby bushes.**

Remus grinned, proven right.

**"Dear lady!" said Monsieur Delacour, still holding Mrs. Weasley's hand between his two plump ones and beaming. "We are most honoured at the approaching union of our two families! Let me present my wife, Apolline."**

**Madame Delacour glided forward and stooped to kiss Mrs. Weasley too.**

**"****_Enchantee_****," she said. "Your 'usband 'as been telling us such amusing stories!"**

**Mr. Weasley gave a maniacal laugh;**

"And Molly will take _that _well," Sirius grinned.

**Mrs. Weasley threw him a look, upon which he became immediately silent and assumed an expression appropriate to the sickbed of a close friend.**

"Not quite the reaction she was going for," Lily laughed, "but close enough, I guess."

**"And, of course, you 'ave met my leetle daughter, Gabrielle!" said Monsieur Delacour. Gabrielle was Fleur in miniature; eleven years old, with waist— length hair of pure, silvery blonde, she gave Mrs. Weasley a dazzling smile and hugged her, then threw Harry a glowing look, batting her eyelashes. **

"And Ginny will take _that _well," James followed the his friend's example.

**Ginny cleared her throat loudly.**

**"Well, come in, do!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly, and she ushered the Delacours into the house, with many "No, please!"s and "After you!"s and "Not at all!"s.**

**The Delacours, as it soon transpired, were helpful, pleasant guests. They were pleased with everything and keen to assist with the preparations for the wedding. **

"Well they should have arrived earlier then," Sirius suggested.

**Monsieur Delacour pronounced everything from the seating plan to the bridesmaids' shows "****_charmant_****!" Madame Delacour was most accomplished at household spells and had the oven properly cleaned in a trice; Gabrielle followed her elder sister around, trying to assist in any way she could and jabbering away in rapid French.**

**On the downside, the Burrow was not built to accommodate so many people. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were now sleeping in the sitting room, having shouted down Monsieur and Madame Delacour's protests and insisted they take their bedroom. Gabrielle was sleeping with Fleur in Percy's old room, and Bill would be sharing with Charlie, his best man, once Charlie arrived from Romania. Opportunities to make plans together became virtually nonexistent, and it was in desperation that Harry, Ron, and Hermione took to volunteering to feed the chickens just to escape the overcrowded house.**

**"But she still won't leave us alone!" snarled Ron, as their second attempt at a meeting in the yard was foiled by the appearance of Mrs. Weasley carrying a large basket of laundry in her arms.**

"That is getting tiresome now," Lily groaned.

**"Oh, good, you've fed the chickens," she called as she approached them. "We'd better shut them away again before the men arrive tomorrow . . . to put up the tent for the wedding," she explained, pausing to lean against the henhouse.**

**She looked exhausted. "Millamant's Magic Marquees . . . they're very good. Bill's escorting them. . . . You'd better stay inside while they're here, Harry. I must say it does complicate organizing a wedding, having all these security spells around the place."**

"Molly!" Lily groaned. "You'll make him feel worse – he already blames himself for every bad thing that happens under the sun!"

**"I'm sorry," said Harry humbly.**

**"Oh, don't be silly, dear!" said Mrs. Weasley at once. "I didn't mean—well, your safety's much more important! Actually, I've been wanting to ask you how you want to celebrate your birthday, Harry. Seventeen, after all, it's an important day. . . . "**

"Well, I guess that makes up for making him feel bad," Lily smiled, silently thanking Molly in her mind.

**"I don't want a fuss," said Harry quickly, envisaging the addition strain this would put on them all. "Really, Mrs. Weasley, just a normal dinner would be fine. . . . It's the day before the wedding. . . . "**

**"Oh, well, if you're sure, dear. I'll invite Remus and Tonks, shall I? And how about Hagrid?"**

"And you _will _go," James shot Remus a glare.

"Of course I will!" Remus held up his hands in surrender.

**"That'd be great," said Harry. "But please don't go to loads of trouble."**

**"Not at all, not at all . . . It's no trouble. . . . " She looked at him, a long, searching look, then smiled a little sadly, straightened up, and walked away.**

**Harry watched as she waved her wand near the washing line, and the damp clothes rose into the air to hang themselves up, and suddenly he felt a great wave of remorse for the inconvenience and the pain he was giving her.**

James marked the page. "Well, I guess it's time for bed then."

The group bade each other goodnight and made their way to the dormitories.

_Please review! And maybe read some of my other stories as well, that aren't nearly so popular as this one? It's fun to shamelessly advertise yourself!_


	9. Chapter 9 The Will of Albus Dumbledore

Lily yawned and sleepily opened her eyes. She lay still for a moment, contemplating having a shower or running the risk of smelling all day long. Something important had happened yesterday, she remembered vaguely; in her sleep-ridden state, however, she could not for the life of her remember what.

Lily sat up slowly, pulling back the covers, her eyes drifting to the window. It was spring, and the landscape of Scotland was a beautiful view in the mornings – it was an array of lots of different shades of green. _Green. _Like her eyes. . . Like _Harry's _eyes.

All traces of sleepiness vanished. She leapt quickly from the bed, hurriedly making it. Within five minutes she had dressed, brushed her hair and brushed her teeth. Her eyes strayed to the sleeping form of her friend, Alice, who would have no idea where she had gone. Lily shook her head resolutely. At the moment, her main priority was Harry.

She mentally laughed at herself as she strode purposely towards the Room of Requirement. If someone had told her yesterday that today she was willingly meeting James and Sirius (she was okay about Remus) she would probably have hexed them into the next century – scratch that, the next millennium.

The only person in the room was Remus, sitting in the corner reading the _Daily Prophet_. He looked up as she entered. "Morning."

"Where are the others?"

"Getting food," he snorted. "Apparently they couldn't wait until lunch."

Lily rolled her eyes. With almost perfect timing, the two missing students raced into the room and streaked towards the armchair. Lily occupied the other one, while Remus sat on the sofa.

"Does nobody want to sit next to me?" he asked, amused.

Sirius succeeded in pushing James out of the chair, and sat down.

"I will, out of the goodness of my heart!" James cried dramatically.

"Or the weakness of your legs," Sirius muttered. "Who's going to read?" Nobody answered. He sighed. "I suppose I will."

"**The Will of Albus Dumbledore**," he started, sounding slightly more sombre.

**He was walking along a mountain road in the cool blue light of dawn. **

"Er – what?" James interrupted. "He's at The Burrow, isn't he?"

"If you let Black read you'll find out," yawned Lily, still tired and not wanting to deal with him right now.

**Far below, swathed in mist, was the shadow of a small town. Was the man he sought down there, the man he needed so badly he could think of little else, the man who held the answer, the answer to his problem . . . **

**"Oi, wake up,"**

"He was asleep," Remus told James, answering his question.

"Strangely enough, I worked that out by myself," James retorted.

Remus shrugged. "I wasn't sure whether you'd be able to."

Recognizing the slight on his intelligence, James half-heartedly glared at him.

**Harry opened his eyes. He was lying again on the camp bed in Ron's dingy attic room. **

"Don't sound so surprised. You fell asleep there, didn't you?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

**The sun had not yet risen and the room was still shadowy. Pigwidgeon was asleep with his head under his tiny wing. The scar on Harry's forehead was prickling.**

"It's that scar again. I wish I knew what was going on with it," Lily murmured, frustrated.

**"You were muttering in your sleep."**

**"Was I?"**

**"Yeah. 'Gregorovitch.' You kept saying 'Gregorovitch'."**

"Any ideas?" Sirius asked.

"Gregorovitch… foreign wand maker," Remus supplied, Lily nodding her assent.

**Harry was not wearing his glasses; Ron's face appeared slightly blurred.**

"Random information!" Sirius cried, slightly (actually fully) childishly.

**"Who's Gregorovitch?"**

**"I dunno, do I? You were the one saying it."**

"This conversation doesn't seem to be getting anywhere," James laughed.

**Harry rubbed his forehead, thinking. He had a vague idea he had heard the name before, but he could not think where.**

**"I think Voldemort's looking for him."**

**"Poor bloke," said Ron fervently.**

"Agreed," Lily nodded, equally fervently.

**Harry sat up, still rubbing his scar, now wide-awake. He tried to remember exactly what he had seen in the dream, but all that came back was a mountainous horizon and the outline of the little village cradled in a deep valley.**

**"I think he's abroad."**

"He would be if he was foreign," Remus said, puzzled.

**"Who, Gregorovitch?"**

**"Voldemort. **

"Makes more sense," Remus grinned.

**I think he's somewhere abroad, looking for Gregorovitch. It didn't look like anywhere in Britain."**

"How does he know this stuff? Is it something to do with his scar?" James wondered.

**"You reckon you were seeing into his mind again?" Ron sounded worried.**

"He should sound worried. That's freaky…" Sirius shuddered.

**"Do me a favour and don't tell Hermione," said Harry. **

"They should tell her. She might know who Gregorovitch is," Lily fretted.

**"Although how she expects me to stop seeing stuff in my sleep . . . "**

"Learn Occlumency," Remus suggested.

**He gazed up at little Pigwidgeon's cage, thinking . . . Why was the name "Gregorovitch" familiar?**

**"I think," he said slowly, "he's got something to do with Quidditch. there's some connection, but I can't—I can't think what it is."**

"Father's son," Sirius snorted. James looked proud.

**"Quidditch?" said Ron. "Sure you're not thinking of Gorgovitch?"**

**"Who?"**

**"Dragomir Gorgovitch, Chaser, transferred to the Chudley Cannons for a record fee two years ago. Record holder for most Quaffle drops in a season."**

"Ouch," Sirius grimaced.

**"No," said Harry, "I'm definitely not thinking of Gorgovitch."**

**"I try not to either," said Ron. **

"Cannons supporter then," grinned Lily while the others roared with laughter.

**"Well, happy birthday anyway."**

"_Happy birthday to you. . . happy birthday to you. . . happy birth_ – "

"Prongs, Pads, I advise you to shut up now – Lily looks ready to commit murder."

Noticing this, James and Sirius immediately quietened. Though magic had been prohibited, they knew Lily was capable – with or without magc.

**"Wow—that's right, I forgot! I'm seventeen."**

"He forgot?" James asked in disbelief. "How?"

"He was rather preoccupied," Remus told him.

"That was a rhetorical question!"

**Harry seized the wand lying beside his camp bed, pointed it at the cluttered desk where he had left his glasses, and said "****_Accio Glasses_****!" Although they were only around a foot away, there was something immensely satisfying about seeing them zoom toward him, or at least until they poked him in the eye.**

Laughter erupted.

"Déjà vu, Prongs?" smirked Sirius.

"Shut it," James muttered, his cheeks tinged with red.

"Ah – care to explain?" asked Lily ruthlessly.

"Oh, well, our esteemed marauder here had the same idea as ickle Harrikins," began Sirius mischeviously.

"But he wasn't as, ah, as _fortunate _as Harry," Remus continued, James now decidedly red.

"His glasses pelted full-speed into – lets say a more _private _area," Sirius finished.

Three quarters of the room roared with laughter, James bright red and huffing at them.

"Got – to – remember – that," Lily wheezed.

"I'm not talking to you again," James glared.

"Just keep telling yourself that," Remus snorted.

**"Slick," snorted Ron.**

**Revelling in the removal of his Trace, Harry sent Ron's possessions flying around the room, causing Pigwidgeon to wake up flutter excitedly around his cage. Harry also tried tying the laces of his trainers by magic (the result a knot that took several minutes to untie by hand) and, purely for the pleasure of it, turned the orange robes on Ron's Chudley Cannons posters right blue.**

"I'm sure Ron will take _that _well," James laughed. Sirius looked at him in horror.

"No – that joke is old! Never use the same joke twice! I thought you weren't talking to us?"

James shrugged. "That would be boring."

**"I'd do your fly by hand, though," Ron advised Harry, sniggering when Harry immediately checked it. "Here's your present. Unwrap it up here, it's not for my mother's eyes."**

"Do I want to know?" asked Lily in a strange combination of worry and amusement.

**"A book?" said Harry as he took the rectangular parcel. "Bit of a departure from tradition, isn't it?"**

**"This isn't your average book," said Ron. "It's pure gold: ****_Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches_****. Explains everything you need to know about girls. **

Lily rolled her eyes. "It's really not that difficult. You just need to be nice to us – nothing more, nothing less."

James looked confused. He had been nice to Lily – hadn't he? How come Lily never said 'yes' to him.

Sirius noticed his expression. "I suppose we'll be getting you that for your birthday, then," he whispered.

James wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

**If only I'd had this last year I'd have known exactly how to get rid of Lavender and I wouldn't have known how to get going with . . . **

"Hermione?" Remus guessed.

**Well, Fred and George gave me a copy, and I've learned a lot. You'd be surprised, it's not all about wandwork, either."**

"Guys!"

James and Sirius paid Remus no heed; they were convulsing in silent laughter. "_Wandwork…_"

Remus cast James, who was sitting next to him, a disgusted look. He stood up, pushed Sirius out of the armchair and sat in his place. Sirius stopped laughing at once. Giving Remus a death glare (that didn't work) he went to sit next to James.

**When they arrived in the kitchen they found a pile of presents waiting on the table. Bill and Monsieur Delacour were finishing their breakfasts, while Mrs. Weasley stood chatting to them over the frying pan.**

**"Arthur told me to wish you a happy seventeenth, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, beaming at him. "He had to leave early for work, but he'll be back for dinner. That's our present on top."**

"Open it!" cried James, fidgeting – you would have thought it was his own birthday.

**Harry sat down, took the square parcel she had indicated, and unwrapped it. Inside was a watch very like the one Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given Ron for his seventeenth; it was gold, with stars circling around the face instead of hands.**

Lily and James smiled a little sadly; you could tell that they wished that they were the ones to give Harry the traditional watch. Nevertheless, they were both very appreciative of the Weasleys and resolved to always be _extremely _nice to them.

**"It's traditional to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age," said Mrs. Weasley, watching him anxiously from beside the corner. "I'm afraid that one isn't new like Ron's, it was actually my brother Fabian's **

"Fabian? Fabian Prewett?" Remus asked.

"Must be. Not exactly a common name, is it?" Sirius replied.

"But if Molly's giving his watch to Harry, he must be – well – dead."

There was a grim silence.

"That's a shame. I liked him," James said finally. Nodding his agreement, Sirius continued.

**and he wasn't terribly careful with his possessions, it's a bit dented on the back, but-"**

**The rest of her speech was lost; Harry had got up and hugged her. He tried to put a lot of unsaid things into the hug and perhaps she understood them, because she patted his check clumsily when he released her, then waved her wand in a slightly random way, causing half a pack of bacon out of the frying pan onto the floor.**

Lily glared at the snickering boys.

**"Happy birthday, Harry!" said Hermione, hurrying into the kitchen and adding her own present to the top of the pile. "It's not much, but I hope you like it. What did you get him?" she added to Ron, who seemed not to hear her.**

"Selective hearing is very useful," Sirius nodded, causing the others to snort.

**"Come on, then, open Hermione's!" said Ron.**

**She had bought him a new Sneakoscope. The other packages contained an enchanted razor from Bill and Fleur ("Ah yes, zis will give you ze smoothest shave you will eve 'ave," Monsieur Delacour assured him, "but you must tell it clearly what you want . . . ozzerwise you might find you 'ave a leetle less hair zan you would like. . . ."), chocolates from the Delacours, and an enormous box of the latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes merchandise from Fred and George.**

"What merchandise?" asked James. The others shrugged, not knowing the answer.

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not linger at the table, as the arrival of Madame Delacour, Fleur and Gabrielle made the kitchen uncomfortably crowded.**

**"I'll pack these for you," Hermione said brightly, taking Harry's presents out of his arms as the three of them headed back upstairs. "I'm nearly done, I'm just waiting for the rest of your pants to come out of the wash, Ron—" Ron's splutter was interrupted by the opening of a door on the first-floor landing.**

"Well, that's nice," Remus snorted. "Can't he sort out his own pants?" (**A.N: I'm British!**)

**"Harry, will you come in here a moment?"**

**It was Ginny. **

"Ooh!"

James and Sirius quailed under Lily's glare.

**Ron came to an abrupt halt, but Hermione took him by the elbow tugged him on up the stairs. Feeling nervous, Harry followed Ginny into her room.**

**He had never been inside it before. **

"I wouldn't expect you to have," Lily rolled her eyes.

**It was small, but bright. There was a large poster of the Wizarding band the Weird Sisters on one wall and a picture of Gwenog Jones, Captain of the all-witch Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies, on the other. **

"That sounds like the sort of bedroom she would have," James nodded.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "How do you know? You barely know what she's like?"

James scowled. "I pay attention."

**A desk stood facing the open window, which looked out over the orchard where he and Ginny had once played two-a-side Quidditch with Ron and Hermione, and which now housed a large, pearly white marquee. The golden flag on top was level with Ginny's window.**

**Ginny looked up into Harry's face, took a deep breath, and said, "Happy seventeenth."**

**"Yeah. . . thanks."**

"Eloquent," Remus laughed.

"Yes, we've established my son is _very _eloquent in situations like these," Lily nodded.

"Was Ev-Lily just sarcastic?" James stage-whispered to Sirius, remembering her request (well, order really) to call her by her first name.

**She was looking at him steadily; he, however, found it difficult to look back at her; it was like gazing into a brilliant light.**

**"Nice view," he said feebly, pointing toward the window.**

"Not very good at this, is he?" Sirius said critically.

**She ignored this. He couldn't blame her.**

"Neither can I," Remus snorted.

**"I couldn't think what to get you," she said.**

**"You didn't have to get me anything." **

**She disregarded this too.**

"Not doing very well, is he?" James snorted.

**"I didn't know what would be useful. Nothing too big, because you wouldn't be able to take it with you."**

**He chanced a glance at her. She was not tearful; **

"Why would she be?" Lily wondered.

**that was one of the many wonderful things about Ginny, she was rarely weepy. He had sometimes thought that having six brother must have toughened her up.**

"How could it fail to?" Remus asked. The marauders stared at him.

"That was an over-complicated question. What's wrong with 'how couldn't it'?" Sirius stated disbelievingly.

**She took a step closer to him.**

"Ooh!"

"If you boys do not shut up, you will regret for the rest of your lives – yes, even you Remus, I saw you doing it as well!"

"Moony got told," Padfoot whispered to Prongs.

**"So then I thought, I'd like you to have something to remember me by, you know, if you meet some Veela when you're off doing whatever you're doing."**

"Doubtful," Remus snorted.

**"I think dating opportunities are going to be pretty thin on the ground, to be honest."**

Lily laughed. "Understatement."

**"There's the silver lining I've been looking for," she whispered, and then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion better than firewhisky; she was the only real thing in the world, Ginny, the feel of her, one hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair—**

"Why'd it stop?" Sirius asked.

**The door banged open behind them and they jumped apart.**

**"Oh," said Ron pointedly. "Sorry."**

"Awkward," James muttered. "Caught while kissing."

Remus groaned. "In case you had forgotten, Prongs, Ginny is Ron's sister. That's going to make it a hundred times worse."

"Blimey, forgot about that," James amended, shocked. "That'd be like – Lily and Sirius being brother and sister."

The two in question shuddered at the prospect.

**"Ron!" Hermione was just behind him, slightly out of breath. There was a strained silence, then Ginny said in a flat little voice, "Well, happy birthday anyway, Harry."**

Lily winced. "That must have been horrible for her."

**Ron's ears were scarlet; Hermione looked nervous. Harry wanted to slam the door in their faces, but it felt as though a cold drain had entered the room when the door appeared, and his shining moment had popped like a soap bubble. **

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Interesting description."

**All the reasons for ending his relationship with Ginny, for staying well away from her, seemed to have slunk inside the room with Ron, and all happy forgetfulness was gone.**

"What reasons?" Remus wondered, impatiently motioning Sirius to read on.

"You were the one who interrupted," Sirius muttered, but he complied.

**He looked at Ginny wanting to say something, though he hardly knew what, but she had turned her back on him. He thought that she might have succumbed, for once, to tears. He could not do anything to comfort her in front of Ron.**

**"I'll see you later," he said, and followed the other two out of the bedroom. Ron marched downstairs, through the still-crowded kitchen and into the yard, and Harry kept pace with him all the way, Hermione trotting along behind them looking scared.**

"This is going to be nasty," James groaned.

**Once he reached the seclusion of the freshly mown lawn, Ron rounded on Harry.**

**"You ditched her. What are you doing now, messing her around?"**

"Why _did _he ditch her?" Lily pressed, but no-one could answer.

**"I'm not messing her around," said Harry, as Hermione caught up with them.**

**"Ron—"**

"This must be quite hard for Ron," Remus put in thoughtfully. "He feels like he should be protective of his sister, but at the same time he is loyal to his best mate. I think he's not quite sure who he should be supporting."

The others contemplated this.

"I never really thought about it that way," Sirius concluded. "To me, it's always been friends first."

**But Ron held up a hand to silence her.**

**"She was really cut up when you ended it—"**

**"So was I. You know why I stopped it, and it wasn't because I wanted to."**

"I have a theory," James said suddenly. "He could have ditched her because he was scared Voldemort would target her to get information on him."

Lily gaped at him. "How – "

"Did I work it out?" At Lily's nod, he explained, "It's what I would have done. It makes sense; that's why he didn't want to end it."

Lily was shocked, though she hid it well. Who knew that James, the arrogant toerag, could have worked that out – and that he would do it himself?

**"Yeah, but you go snogging her now and she's just going to get her hopes up again—"**

**"She's not an idiot, she knows it can't happen, she's not expecting us to—to end up married, or—"**

"They will."

Both Remus and Sirius spoke with conviction. At James and Lily's questioning looks, they smiled mysteriously.

**As he said it, a vivid picture formed in Harry's mind of Ginny in a white dress, marrying a tall, faceless, and unpleasant stranger. In one spiralling moment it seemed to hit him: her future was free and unencumbered, whereas his . . . he could see nothing but Voldemort ahead.**

The four of them looked sad that this should be the case.

**"If you keep groping her every chance you get—"**

**"It won't happen again," said Harry harshly. The day was cloudless, but he felt as though the sun had gone in. "Okay?"**

**Ron looked half resentful, half sheepish; he rocked backward and forward on his feet for a moment, then said, "Right then, well, that's . . . yeah."**

"They're an eloquent bunch, this trio, aren't they?" Sirius laughed.

**Ginny did not seek another one-to-one meeting with Harry for the rest of the day, nor by any look or gesture did she show that they had shared more than polite conversation in her room. Nevertheless, Charlie's arrival came as a relief to Harry. **

"Charlie - another brother," Remus deduced.

**It provided a distraction, watching Mrs. Weasley force Charlie into a chair, raise her wand threateningly, and announce that he was about to get a proper haircut.**

Sirius grimaced. "Now _that _sounds like my dear old mum."

The other two marauders looked at him sympathetically.

**As Harry's birthday dinner would have stretched the Burrow's kitchen to breaking point even before the arrival of Charlie, Lupin, **

"Moony! You came!" the other two marauders cried joyfully.

Remus glared half-heartedly at them. "I still don't get why it keeps using my surname, though."

**Tonks and Hagrid, several tables were placed end to end in the garden. **

"Why didn't they do that before?" Lily wondered.

**Fred and George bewitched a number of purple lanterns, all emblazoned with a large number 17, to hang in midair over the guests. Thanks to Mrs. Weasley's ministrations, George's wound was neat and clean, but Harry was not yet used to the dark hole in the side of his head, despite the twins many jokes about it. **

They all looked slightly squeamish. It wasn't really a sight they wanted to imagine.

Remus looked slightly guilty. _He _had been with George; why hadn't he been able to protect him? Noticing his expression, Sirius gave him a reproachful look.

**Hermione made purple and gold streamers erupt from the end of her wand and drape themselves artistically over the trees and bushes.**

**"Nice," said Ron, as with one final flourish of her wand, Hermione turned the leaves on the crab-apple tree to gold. "You've really got an eye for that sort of thing."**

**"Thank you, Ron!" said Hermione, looking both pleased and a little confused.**

"He must be like Padfoot here," James laughed.

**Harry turned away, smiling to himself. He had a funny notion that he would find a chapter on compliments when he found time to peruse his copy of Twelve Fail-Safe ways to Charm Witches; he caught Ginny's eye and grinned at her before remembering his promise to Ron and hurriedly striking up a conversation with Monsieur Delacour.**

"His promise doesn't mean he can't talk to her, does it?" Lily said worriedly. "Otherwise he'll only make her more miserable."

**"Out of the way, out of the way!' sang Mrs. Weasley, coming through the gate with what appeared to be a giant, beach-ball-sized Snitch floating in front of her. Seconds later Harry realized that it was his birthday cake, which Mrs. Weasley was suspending with her wand, rather than risk carrying it over the uneven ground. When the cake had finally landed in the middle of the table, Harry said, "That looks amazing, Mrs. Weasley."**

**"Oh, it's nothing, dear," she said fondly. Over her shoulder, Ron gave Harry the thumbs-up and mouthed, ****_Good one._**

The room snorted. "I doubt he's trying to make the moves on Molly," Sirius snorted.

"He's just naturally polite," Remus agreed.

**By seven o'clock, all the guests had arrived, led into the house by Fred and George, who had waited for them at the end of the lane. Hagrid had honoured the occasion by wearing his best, and horrible, hairy brown suit. **

"It is rather disgusting isn't it?" Lily pulled a face.

**Although Lupin**

"Surname!" Sirius sang. "I get a first name!"

The others raised their eyebrows, questioning his sanity.

**smiled as he shook Harry's hand, Harry thought he looked rather unhappy. It was all very odd; Tonks, beside him, looked simply radiant.**

"Moony…" James groaned. "Again?"

Remus grinned sheepishly. "It's going to be a recurring theme. I'm crazy. Now can we _please_ let it drop?"

**"Happy birthday, Harry," she said, hugging him tightly.**

**"Seventeen, eh!" said Hagrid as he accepted a bucket-sized glass of wine from Fred. "Six years ter the day we met, Harry, d'yeh remember it?"**

**"Vaguely," said Harry, grinning up at him. "Didn't you smash down the front door, give Dudley a pig's tail, and tell me I was a wizard?'**

The four of them (Lily included) burst into laughter.

"Now _that _is a story I really want to hear!" she cried, surprising the others.

**"I forge' the details," Hagrid chortled. "All righ', Ron, Hermione?"**

**"We're fine," said Hermione. "How are you?"**

**"Ar, not bad. **

"Is he a pirate?" Sirius snorted.

"What?" James asked, confused.

Sirius read the sentence aloud again, causing a few chuckles.

**Bin busy, we got some newborn unicorns. I'll show yeh when yeh get back—" Harry avoided Ron's and Hermione's gazes and Hagrid rummaged in his pocket. "Here, Harry—couldn' think what ter get yeh, but then I remembered this." He pulled out a small, slightly furry drawstring pouch with a long string, evidently intended to be worn around the neck. "Mokeskin. Hide anythin' in there an' no one but the owner can get it out. They're rare, them."**

**"Hagrid, thanks!"**

"That is a really good present," Remus nodded approvingly.

**"'S'nothin'," said Hagrid with a wave of a dustbin-lid-sized hand, "An' there's Charlie! always liked him—hey! Charlie!"**

"Subtle," Lily grinned. She froze suddenly. She was with the marauders. She was _grinning_. What was going on? What was she _doing_?

**Charlie approached, running his hand slightly ruefully over his new, brutally short haircut. He was shorter than Ron, thickset, with a number of burns and scratches up his muscly arms.**

**"Hi, Hagrid, how's it going?"**

**"Bin meanin' ter write fer ages. How's Norbert doin'?"**

**"Norbert?" Charlie laughed. "The Norwegian Ridgeback? We call her Norberta now."**

"Norberta?" James snorted incredulously. "At least give her a proper girl's name."

Lily shook her head. "She's become acquainted with the name. Dragons need to keep their first name, otherwise they wouldn't answer to any name. If you change their name, you need to keep it extremely similar to their previous one."

**"Wha—Norbert's a girl?"**

**"Oh yeah," said Charlie.**

**"How can you tell?" asked Hermione.**

**"They're a lot more vicious." said Charlie. **

"True with every species," Sirius snorted.

Lily glared at him. "What did you just say?"

Sirius (for the first time) felt slightly intimidated. "Nothing…"

"Thought so," Lily smirked.

**He looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice. "Wish Dad would hurry up and get here. Mum's getting edgy."**

**They all looked over at Mrs. Weasley. She was trying to talk to Madame Delacour while glancing repeatedly at the gate.**

**"I think we'd better start without Arthur," she called to the garden at large after a moment or two. "He must have been held up at—oh!"**

**They all saw it at the same time: a streak of light that came flying across the yard and onto the table, where it resolved itself into a bright silver weasel, **

"A Weasley has a weasel? Fitting," James snorted.

**which stood on its hind legs and spoke with Mr. Weasley's voice.**

**"Minister of Magic coming with me."**

"Why?" Remus asked, slightly nervously.

**The Patronus dissolved into thin air, leaving Fleur's family peering in astonishment where it had vanished.**

"Don't they have them in France?" Sirius asked curiously.

Lily shrugged. "I guess not."

**"We shouldn't be here," said Lupin at once. "Harry—I'm sorry—I'll explain another time—"**

James groaned. "Again?" This was really starting to piss him off.

**He seized Tonks's wrist and pulled her away; they reached the fence, climbed over it, and vanished from sight. **

Remus suddenly looked understanding. "Prongs, I have an excuse. Furry little problem does not bode well with the Minister." The others nodded; Lily looked confused.

"What – "

Sirius hurriedly continued reading, causing Lily to become even more suspicious.

**Mrs. Weasley looked bewildered.**

**"The Minister—but why—? I don't understand—"**

**But there was no time to discuss the matter; a second later, Mr. Weasley had appeared out of thin air at the gate, accompanied by Rufus Scrimgeour, **

"Anyone know him?" James asked. Nobody could answer.

**instantly recognizable by his mane of grizzled hair. The two newcomers marched across the yard toward the garden and the lantern-lit table, where everybody sat in silence, watching them draw closer. **

"Gate-crasher," sang Sirius, causing the others to snort.

**As Scrimgeour came within range of the lantern light, Harry saw that he looked much older than the last time they had met, scraggy and grim.**

"They've met before?" Lily wondered. "I wonder when."

**"Sorry to intrude," said Scrimgeour, as he limped to a halt before the table. "Especially as I can see that I am gatecrashing a party."**

"Exactly what I said," Sirius nodded, pleased that Scrimgeour had, at least, admitted his transgression.

**His eyes lingered for a moment on the giant Snitch cake.**

"He must be a Seeker!" James cried suddenly.

Lily smiled, pleased. She was rather proud that her son had followed in her footsteps (at least in Quidditch) instead of his father's. She had finally come to terms that she would, indeed, have to marry James – something that really made her question her future self's sanity.

**"Many happy returns."**

**"Thanks," said Harry.**

**"I require a private word with you," Scrimgeour went on. "Also with Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger."**

**"Us?" said Ron, sounding surprised, "Why us?"**

Remus looked slightly concerned. "It seems he doesn't usually get acknowledged by authority figures."

"Or Hermione," Sirius added. "He really doesn't have that much confidence."

**"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," said Scrimgeour. "Is there such a place?" he demanded of Mr. Weasley.**

"Of course there is, you bloody wanker!" cried Sirius indignantly. Lily did not reprimand him.

**"Yes, of course," said Mr. Weasley, who looked nervous. **

"He would be," Lily nodded. "The Minister is in his house."

**"The, er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"**

**"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour said to Ron. "There will be no need for you to accompany us, Arthur."**

"Sound suspicious why don't you?" James snorted.

**Harry saw Mr. Weasley exchange a worried look with Mrs. Weasley as he, Ron and Hermione stood up. As they led the way back to the house in silence, Harry knew that the other two were thinking the same as he was: Scrimgeour must, somehow, have learned that the three of them were planning to drop out of Hogwarts.**

"How?" Remus asked sceptically.

**Scrimgeour did not speak as they all passed through the messy kitchen and into the Burrow's sitting room. Although the garden had been full of soft golden evening light, it was already dark in here. Harry flicked his wand at the oil lamps as he entered and they illuminated the shabby but cosy room. Scrimgeour sat himself in the sagging armchair that Mr. Weasley normally occupied, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione to squeeze side by side onto the sofa. **

"Well, I'm sure none of them wanted to squeeze up close to Scrimgeour," Sirius commented. "And I'm sure Ron and Hermione relish the opportunity."

"If he has any sense at all, Harry would sit between them," Lily shook her head.

**Once they had done so, Scrimgeour spoke, "I have some questions for the three of you and I think it will be best if we do it individually. If you two"—he pointed at Harry and Hermione—" can wait upstairs, I will start with Ronald."**

"No chance," James shook his head, smirking.

**"We're not going anywhere," said Harry, while Hermione nodded vigorously.**

James smiled smugly.

**"You can speak to us together, or not at all."**

**Scrimgeour gave Harry a cold, appraising look. Harry had the impression that the minister was wondering it was worthwhile opening hostilities this early.**

"And they have been opened before?" Remus asked faintly.

**"Very well then, together," he said, shrugging. He cleared his throat. "I am here, as I'm sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."**

"He left them things?" Sirius gaped. Everyone's mouths dropped open.

**Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another.**

**"A surprise, apparently? You were not aware the that Dumbledore had left you anything?"**

**"A—all of us?" said Ron. "Me and Hermione too?"**

"My point again," Remus shook his head. "Harry's friends should really receive the same attention as he does, or they're liable to get jealous."

"And that would be really bad," Lily nodded.

**"Yes, all of—"**

**But Harry interrupted.**

"My son interrupted the _Minister_?" James asked, almost in awe.

**"Dumbledore died over a month ago. Why has it taken this long to give us what he left us?"**

They raised their eyebrows. That _was_ a good point.

**"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione, before Scrimgeour could answer. "They wanted to examine whatever he's left us. You had no right to do that!" she said, and her voice trembled slightly.**

**"I had every right," said Scrimgeour dismissively. "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power to confiscate the contents of a will—"**

**"That law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts," said Hermione, "and the Ministry is supposed to have evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them! Are you telling me that you thought Dumbledore was trying to pass us something cursed?"**

"Brains are useful," Sirius grinned.

**"Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?" asked Scrimgeour.**

**"No, I'm not," retorted Hermione. "I'm hoping to do some good in the world!"**

The room was filled with laughter.

"Best response ever!" James laughed.

**Ron laughed, Scrimgeour's eyes flickered toward him and away again as Harry spoke.**

**"So why have you decided to let us have our things now? Can't you think of a pretext to keep them?"**

**"No, it'll be because the thirty-one days are up," said Hermione at once. "They can't keep the objects longer than that unless they can prove they're dangerous. Right?"**

"And I doubt that they can," Remus nodded, agreeing.

**"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?" asked Scrimgeour, ignoring Hermione. **

"He's prejudiced," Lily hissed, her eyes narrowing. "He's ignoring Hermione because she's muggleborn, and turning to the pureblood." She looked positively lethal.

"That's stupid. You're a muggleborn, and you're the best witch I know," James told her, smiling.

Lily smiled back, accepting the compliment. Wait – he was Potter! The arrogant toerag who only wanted her to go out with him so he could parade her to all his friends! She mentally shook herself, but at the same time she studied James thoughtfully. _Could _she have been wrong in her assumptions? She resolved to have a nice, civilised talk with him and give him the benefit of the doubt – not that he would be grateful.

Unaware of her internal battle, Sirius read on.

**Ron looked startled.**

**"Me? No—not really . . . It was always Harry who . . . " Ron looked around at Harry and Hermione to see Hermione giving him a ****_stop—talking—now!_**** sort of look, but the damage was done: Scrimgeour looked as though he had heard exactly what he had expected, and wanted, to hear. He swooped like a bird of prey upon Ron's answer.**

**"If you were not very close to Dumbledore, how do you account for the fact that he remembered you in his will? He made exceptionally few personal bequests. The vast majority of his possessions—his private library, his magical instruments, and other personal effects—were left to Hogwarts. Why do you think you were singled out?"**

"He needs to defeat Voldemort?" Sirius raised his eyebrows.

Remus nodded. "The Minister should really leave it like that. He must want Voldemort defeated – what's the point in questioning the only people who can defeat him?"

**"I . . . dunno," said Ron, "I . . . when I say we weren't close . . . I mean, I think he liked me. . . . "**

**"You're being modest, Ron," said Hermione. "Dumbledore was very fond of you."**

**This was stretching the truth to breaking points as far as Harry knew, Ron and Dumbledore had never been alone together, and direct contact between them had been negligible. **

"My point again," Remus sighed, aggravated.

**However, Scrimgeour did not seem to be listening.**

**He put his hand inside his cloak and drew out a drawstring pouch much larger than the one Hagrid had given Harry. From it, he removed a scroll of parchment, which he unrolled and read aloud.**

_**"'The Last Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'**_

"I love how he's got all these strange and traditional names, and then he's got a random 'Brian' in there," James snorted. "What a name!"

**. . .Yes, here we are. . . . ****_'To Ronald Bilius _**

"Bilius?" Sirius snorted.

_**Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it."'**_

**Scrimgeour took something from the bag an object that Harry had seen before. It looked something like a silver cigarette lighter, but it had, he knew, the power to suck all light from a place, and restore it, with a simple click. **

"That's really interesting, but why's he giving it to Ron?" Lily wondered.

**Scrimgeour leaned forward and passed the Deluminator to Ron, who took it and turned it over in his fingers, looking stunned.**

**"That is a valuable object," said Scrimgeour, watching Ron. "It may even be unique. Certainly it is of Dumbledore's own design. Why would he have left you an item so rare?"**

**Ron shook his head, looking bewildered.**

**"Dumbledore must have taught thousands of students," Scrimgeour persevered. "Yet the only one he remembered in his will are you three. Why is that? To what use did he think you would put his Deluminator, Mr. Weasley?"**

**"Put out lights, I s'pose," mumbled Ron. "What else could I do with it?"**

"The obvious answer," Remus laughed, "is always the best comeback."

**Evidently Scrimgeour had no suggestions. After squinting at Ron for a moment or two, he turned back to Dumbledore's will.**

**"'****_To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive._****"'**

"He's crazy," James spluttered. "_The Tales of Beedle the Bard_? How's that going to help defeat Voldemort?"

"It could just be a sentimental gift," Lily suggested, but she wasn't convinced.

**Scrimgeour now pulled out of the bag a small book that looked as ancient as the copy of ****_Secrets of the Darkest Arts_**** upstairs. **

"How can you compare those two books? They're completely different," Sirius stated disbelievingly.

**Its binding was stained and peeling in places. Hermione took it from Scrimgeour without a word. She held the book in her lap and gazed at it. Harry saw that the title was in runes; he had never learned to read them. As he looked, a tear splashed onto the embossed symbols.**

"This must be hard for them," Remus winced.

**"Why do you think Dumbledore left you that book, Miss Granger?" asked Scrimgeour**

**"He . . . he knew I liked books," said Hermione in a thick voice, mopping her eyes with her sleeve.**

**"But why that particular book?"**

"How's she supposed to know?" James asked indignantly. "Why is he so suspicious?"

**"I don't know. He must have thought I'd enjoy it."**

**"Did you ever discuss codes, or any means of passing secret messages, with Dumbledore?"**

"This really getting annoying now," Sirius groaned.

**"No, I didn't," said Hermione, still wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "And if the Ministry still hasn't found any hidden codes in this book in thirty-one days, I doubt that I will."**

"That's not true," Lily shook her head. "She's _far_ more capable than most of those Ministry bunglers."

**She suppressed a sob. They were wedged together so tightly that Ron had difficultly extracting his arm to put it around Hermione's shoulders. Scrimgeour turned back to the will.**

**"'****_To Harry James Potter_****,'" **

"It _is _Harry James," James nodded. "He could be one of the people sending these books. And the others could be Ron and Hermione."

The others agreed, impressed.

**he read, and Harry's insides contracted with a sudden excitement, "'****_I leave the Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill_****.'"**

There was silence.

"He _is _mad," Remus stated, almost in awe.

**As Scrimgeour pulled out the tiny, walnut-sized golden ball, its silver wings fluttered rather feebly, and Harry could not help feeling definite sense of anticlimax.**

They laughed.

**"Why did Dumbledore leave you this Snitch?" asked Scrimgeour.**

**"No idea," said Harry. "For the reasons you just read out, I suppose . . . to remind me what you can get if you . . . persevere and whatever it was."**

"They really don't get along, do they?" Sirius snorted.

**"You think this is a mere symbolic keepsake, then?"**

**"I suppose so," said Harry. "What else could it be?"**

**"I'm asking the questions," said Scrimgeour, **

"But Harry seems to be more in control than you are," James retorted.

**shifting his chair a little closer to the sofa. Dusk was really falling outside now; the marquee beyond the windows towered ghostly white over the hedge.**

**"I notice that your birthday cake is in the shape of a Snitch," Scrimgeour said to Harry. "Why is that?"**

"This has the same sort of feel as a trial, doesn't it?" Lily narrowed her eyes disapprovingly.

**Hermione laughed derisively.**

**"Oh, it can't be a reference to the fact that Harry's a great Seeker, that's way too obvious," she said. "There must be a secret message from Dumbledore hidden in the icing!"**

"Nobody seems to get on with the Minister," Remus told Sirius, referring to his earlier comment.

**"I don't think there's anything hidden in the icing," said Scrimgeour, "but a Snitch would be a very good hiding place for a small object. You know why, I'm sure?"**

"No," Sirius shook his head, causing the others to laugh.

**Harry shrugged. Hermione, however, answered: Harry thought that answering questions correctly was such a deeply ingrained habit she could not suppress the urge.**

"Well that's nice," Lily huffed, almost taking it as a personal insult; she could see parts of herself in Hermione, and could relate to her best.

**"Because Snitches have flesh memories," she said.**

**"What?" said Harry and Ron together; both considered Hermione's Quidditch knowledge negligible.**

The room was filled with snorts once again.

**"Correct," said Scrimgeour. "A Snitch is not touched by bare skin before it is released, not even by the maker, who wears gloves. It carries an enchantment by which it can identify the first human to lay hands upon it, in the case of disputed capture. **

"That's a good idea," James murmured, shocked that he had not heard of this before then.

**This Snitch"—he held up the tiny golden ball—"will remember your touch, Potter. It occurs to me that Dumbledore, who had prodigious magical skill, whatever his other faults, **

Everyone immediately bristled. They all greatly respected their headmaster; he may have erred in the past, but he had redeemed himself now. Anyone who said otherwise would face the wrath of those four, if nobody else.

**might have enchanted this Snitch so that it will open only for you."**

**Harry's heart was beating rather fast. He was sure that Scrimgeour was right. How could he avoid taking the Snitch with his bare hand in front of the Minister?**

**"You don't say anything," said Scrimgeour. "Perhaps you already know what the Snitch contains?"**

"He is really getting on my nerves," Sirius complained through gritted teeth.

**"No," said Harry, still wondering how he could appear to touch the Snitch without really doing so. If only he knew Legilimency, really knew it, and could read Hermione's mind; he could practically hear her brain whirring beside him.**

**"Take it," said Scrimgeour quietly.**

"Just get on with it. Dumbledore would have expected this to happen; he wouldn't put anything in it the Ministry wouldn't approve of," Remus deduced.

**Harry met the Minister's yellow eyes and knew he had no option but to obey. He held out his hand, and Scrimgeour leaned forward again and placed the Snitch, slowly and deliberately, into Harry's palm. Nothing happened. **

Many confused looks were passed around. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

**As Harry's fingers closed around the Snitch, its tired wings fluttered and were still. Scrimgeour, Ron, and Hermione continued to gaze avidly at the now partially concealed ball, as if still hoping it might transform in some way.**

"Doubt it," Lily muttered.

**"That was dramatic," said Harry coolly. Both Ron and Hermione laughed.**

The readers followed their example.

**"That's all, then, is it?" asked Hermione, making to prise herself off the sofa.**

"A difficult feat," James nodded mock-seriously.

**"Not quite," said Scrimgeour, who looked bad tempered now, "Dumbledore left you a second bequest, Potter."**

They leaned forwards, interested. Sirius continued to read, his voice becoming slightly more interested. To be honest, he had been getting quite bored – nothing exciting seemed to be happening.

**"What is it?" asked Harry, excitement rekindling.**

**Scrimgeour did not bother to read from the will this time.**

**"The sword of Godric Gryffindor," he said.**

"Well _that _lives up to expectations," Remus murmured, awed.

**Hermione and Ron both stiffened. Harry looked around for a sign of the ruby-encrusted hilt, but Scrimgeour did not pull the sword from the leather pouch, which in any case looked much too small to contain it.**

"Ever heard on an extension charm?" Lily asked the book.

"No!" James and Sirius cried in unison. She glared at them.

"I wasn't talking to _you_."

"No – you were talking to a book. That doesn't really demonstrate good mental health, does it?" Sirius retorted.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Like you're one to speak."

**"So where is it?" Harry asked suspiciously.**

**"Unfortunately," said Scrimgeour, "that sword was not Dumbledore's to give away. The sword of Godric Gryffindor is an important historical artefact, and as such, belongs—"**

**"It belongs to Harry!" said Hermione hotly. "It chose him, he was the one who found it, it came to him out of the Sorting Hat—"**

"What hasn't he done?" asked James faintly.

**"According to reliable historical sources, the sword may present itself to any worthy Gryffindor," said Scrimgeour. "That does not make it the exclusive property of Mr. Potter, whatever Dumbledore may have decided." Scrimgeour scratched his badly shaven cheek, scrutinizing Harry. "Why do you think—?"**

**"—Dumbledore wanted to give me the sword?" said Harry, struggling to keep his temper. "Maybe he thought it would look nice on my wall."**

"They really _do not _get on well," Remus stared at the book in disbelief.

**"This is not a joke, Potter!" growled Scrimgeour. "Was it because Dumbledore believed that only the sword of Godric Gryffindor could defeat the Heir of Slytherin? Did he wish to give you that sword, Potter, because he believed, as do many, that you are the one destined to destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"**

**"Interesting theory," said Harry. "Has anyone ever tried sticking a sword in Voldemort? **

"I don't believe they have," Lily raised her eyebrows.

**Maybe the Ministry should put some people onto that, instead of wasting their time stripping down Deluminators or covering up breakouts from Azkaban. So this is what you've been doing, Minister, shut up in your office, trying to break open a Snitch? People are dying—I was nearly one of them—Voldemort chased me across three counties, he killed Mad-Eye Moody, but there's been no word about any of that from the Ministry, has there? And you still expect us to cooperate with you!"**

"They've been through this before?" Sirius asked tiredly.

**"You go too far!" shouted Scrimgeour, standing up; Harry jumped to his feet too. Scrimgeour limped toward Harry and jabbed him hard in the chest with the point of his wand: it singed a hole in Harry's T-shirt like a lit cigarette.**

"Oh, no you don't!" James leapt to his feet – _this _was the last straw. How _dare _someone treat his son like that?

"Prongs, sit down," Remus told him. "Getting angry with someone who's not even here isn't going to help."

**"Oi!" said Ron, jumping up and raising his own wand, **

"Good friend," Sirius nodded approvingly.

**but Harry said,**

**"No! D'you want to give him an excuse to arrest us?"**

"At least he thinks about his actions," Lily murmured, but she still was slightly apprehensive about her son's and the Minister's feud.

**"Remembered you're not at school, have you?" said Scrimgeour, breathing hard into Harry's face. "Remembered that I am not Dumbledore, who forgave your insolence and insubordination? You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old boy to tell me how to do my job! It's time you learned some respect!"**

"It's time you earned it!" James cried furiously.

**"It's time you earned it," said Harry.**

James smiled slightly.

**The floor trembled; there was a sound of running footsteps, then the door to the sitting room burst open and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley ran in.**

"Awkward!" Remus sang.

**"We—we thought we heard—" began Mr. Weasley, looking thoroughly alarmed at the sight of Harry and the Minister virtually nose to nose.**

**"—raised voices," panted Mrs. Weasley.**

"They're doing the twin-talking-thing!" Sirius said excitedly. The others questioned his sanity.

**Scrimgeour took a couple of steps back from Harry, glancing at the hole he had made in Harry's T-shirt. He seemed to regret his loss of temper.**

"As he should," Lily growled.

**"It—it was nothing," he growled. "I . . . regret your attitude," **

"I regret _yours_," James retorted.

**he said, looking Harry full in the face once more. "You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you—what Dumbledore—desired. We ought to be working together."**

"They ought to. But Scrimgeour seems against it," Remus muttered, frustrated.

**"I don't like your methods, Minister," said Harry. "Remember?"**

**For the second time, he raised his right fist and displayed to Scrimgeour the scars that still showed white on the back of it, spelling ****_I must not tell lies_****. **

"Someone from the ministry did that?" Sirius asked dangerously.

**Scrimgeour's expression hardened. He turned away without another word and limped from the room. Mrs. Weasley hurried after him; Harry heard her stop at the back door. After a minute or so she called, "He's gone!"**

"And good riddance," Lily hissed nastily.

**"What did he want?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking around at Harry, Ron, and Hermione as Mrs. Weasley came hurrying back to them.**

**"To give us what Dumbledore left us," said Harry. "They've only just released the contents of his will."**

The room was filled with growls.

**Outside in the garden, over the dinner tables, the three objects Scrimgeour had given them were passed from hand to hand. Everyone exclaimed over the Deluminator and ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard_**** and lamented the fact that Scrimgeour had refused to pass on the sword, but none of them could offer any suggestion as to why Dumbledore would have left Harry an old Snitch. As Mr. Weasley examined the Deluminator for the third or fourth time, Mrs. Weasley said tentatively, "Harry, dear, everyone's awfully hungry, we didn't like to start without you . . . . Shall I serve dinner now?"**

"Yes, food is very important," Sirius nodded – well – seriously.

**They all ate rather hurriedly and then, after a hasty chorus of "Happy Birthday" **

The reading was interrupted by a very loud, very off-key chorus from the marauders, Lily reluctantly joining in. It was her son's birthday, after all.

**and much gulping of cake, the party broke up. Hagrid, who was invited to the wedding the following day, but was far too bulky to sleep in the overstretched Burrow, left to set up a tent for himself in a neighbouring field.**

Remus seemed to find this funny for no apparent reason.

**"Meet us upstairs," Harry whispered to Hermione, while they helped Mrs. Weasley restore the garden to its normal state. "After everyone's gone to bed."**

Sirius opened his mouth but, with a glare from Lily, refrained from commenting.

**Up in the attic room, Ron examined his Deluminator, and Harry filled Hagrid's Mokeskin purse, not with gold, but with those items he most prized, apparently worthless though some of them were: the Marauder's Map, the shard of Sirius's enchanted mirror, and R.A.B.'s locket. **

Sirius smiled slightly sadly. "If R.A.B is Regulus, all of them are somehow related to me."

**He pulled the strings tight and slipped the purse around his neck, then sat holding the old Snitch and watching its wings flutter feebly. At last, Hermione tapped on the door and tiptoed inside.**

**"****_Muffliato_****," she whispered, waving her hand in the direction of the stairs.**

"How does she know one of Sev-Snape's spells?" asked Lily, hurriedly correcting herself. Nobody knew.

**"Thought you didn't approve of that spell?" said Ron.**

**"Times change," said Hermione. **

"That's Moony's default excuse," James grinned at the wolf.

**"Now, show us that Deluminator."**

**Ron obliged at once. Holding it up in front of him, he clicked it. The solitary lamp they had lit went out at once.**

**"The thing is," whispered Hermione through the dark, "we could have achieved that with Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."**

"Which is?" James wondered.

**There was a small ****_click_****, and the ball of light from the lamp flew back to the ceiling and illuminated them all once more.**

"I really want one of those," Sirius moaned.

**"Still, it's cool," said Ron, a little defensively. "And from what they said, Dumbledore invented it himself!"**

**"I know, but surely he wouldn't have singled you out in his will just to help us turn out the lights!"**

**"D'you think he knew the Ministry would confiscate his will and examine everything he'd left us?" asked Harry.**

"Of course," Remus nodded confidently.

**"Definitely," said Hermione. "He couldn't tell us in the will why he was leaving us these things, but that still doesn't explain . . . "**

**" . . . why he couldn't have given us a hint when he was alive?" asked Ron.**

**"Well, exactly," said Hermione, now flicking through ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard_****. "If these things are important enough to pass on right under the nose of the Ministry, you'd think he'd have let us know why . . . unless he thought it was obvious?"**

**"Thought wrong, then, didn't he?" said Ron. "I always said he was mental. Brilliant and everything, but cracked. Leaving Harry an old Snitch—what the hell was that about?"**

"That's what I want to know," Lily agreed.

**"I've no idea," said Hermione. "When Scrimgeour made you take it, Harry, I was so sure that something was going to happen!"**

**"Yeah, well," said Harry, his pulse quickening as he raised the Snitch in his fingers. "I wasn't going to try too hard in front of Scrimgeour, was I?"**

The excitement mounted once again.

**"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.**

**"The Snitch I caught in my first ever Quidditch match?" said Harry. "Don't you remember?"**

**Hermione looked simply bemused. Ron, however, gasped, pointing frantically from Harry to the Snitch and back again until he found his voice.**

"What happened?" asked James, bouncing up and down like a child on their birthday.

**"That was the one you nearly swallowed!"**

"He what?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"He never does things normally, does he?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

**"Exactly," said Harry, and with his heart beating fast, he pressed his mouth to the Snitch.**

You could have heard a pin drop – Sirius read on, the excitement clear in his voice.

**It did not open. Frustration and bitter disappointment welled up inside him: he lowered the golden sphere, but then Hermione cried out.**

**"Writing! There's writing on it, quick, look!"**

"Well done, Hermione," Lily murmured, waiting to see what it said. Some sort of clue? Some sort of riddle that would help them in their quest?

**He nearly dropped the Snitch in surprise and excitement. Hermione was quite right. Engraved upon the smooth golden surface, where seconds before there had been nothing, were five words written in the thin, slanting handwriting that Harry recognized as Dumbledore's:**

**I****_ open at the close._**

"What does that mean?" James said softly. Nobody could answer.

**He had barely read them when the words vanished again.**

**"'****_I open at the close_**** . . . ' What's that supposed to mean?"**

**Hermione and Ron shook their heads, looking back.**

**"I open at the close . . . at the ****_close _****. . . I open at the close . . . "**

**But no matter how often they repeated the words, with many different inflections, they were unable to wring any more meaning from them.**

"They just seem like a random sentence," Sirius shook his head.

**"And the sword," said Ron finally, when they had at last abandoned their attempts to define meaning in the Snitch's inscription. "Why did he want Harry to have the sword?"**

**"And why couldn't he just have told me?" Harry said quietly. "It was ****_there_****, it was right there on the wall of his office during all our talks last year! If he wanted me to have it, why didn't he just give it to me then?"**

Again, no ideas were shared.

**He felt as though he were sitting in an examination with a question he ought to have been able to answer in front of him, his brain slow and unresponsive. Was there something he had missed in the long talks with Dumbledore last year? Ought he to know what it all meant? Had Dumbledore expected him to understand?**

"He can't have. Nobody has the same level of perception as him," Remus shook his head in disbelief.

**"And as for this book," said Hermione, "****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard_**** . . . I've never even heard of them."**

"She's what?" both James and Sirius cried incredulously.

**"You've never heard of ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard_****?" said Ron incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"**

**"No, I'm not!" said Hermione in surprise. "Do you know them, then?"**

**"Well, of course I do!"**

**Harry looked up, diverted. The circumstance of Ron having read a book that Hermione had not was unprecedented. **

Laughter filled the room, mostly because of how _true_ that statement was – it wasn't exaggerated in the slightest way.

**Ron, however, looked bemused by their surprise.**

**"Oh come on! All the old kids' stories are supposed to be Beedle's, aren't they? ****_The Fountain of Fair Fortune . . . The Wizard and the Hopping Pot . . . Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump'. . ._**** "**

**"Excuse me?" said Hermione, giggling. "What was that last one?"**

"It _is _an amusing name," Remus reflected, grinning.

**"Come off it!" said Ron, looking in disbelief from Harry to Hermione. "You must've heard of Babbitty Rabbitty—"**

**"Ron, you know full well Harry and I were brought up by Muggles!" said Hermione. "We didn't hear stories like that when we were little, we heard ****_Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_**** and ****_Cinderella_****—"**

The two ignorant purebloods raised their eyebrows at the names.

**"What's that, an illness?" asked Ron.**

**"So these are children's stories?" asked Hermione, bending again over the runes.**

**"Yeah," said Ron uncertainly, "I mean, that's just what you hear, you know, that all these old stories came from Beedle. I dunno what they're like in the original versions."**

**"But I wonder why Dumbledore thought I should read them?"**

No light could be shared on the subject.

**Something creaked downstairs.**

**"Probably just Charlie, now Mum's asleep, sneaking off to re-grow his hair," said Ron nervously.**

**"All the same, we should get to bed," whispered Hermione. "It wouldn't do to oversleep tomorrow.'**

**"No," agreed Ron. "A brutal triple murder by the bridegroom's mother might put a bit of a damper of the wedding. I'll get the lights."**

A couple of snorts could be heard.

**And he clicked the Deluminator once more as Hermione left the room.**

"That's the end of the chapter. Who's going to read next?"

The door opened and a figure walked in. "I will."


	10. Chapter 10 The Wedding

"I will."

They turned, trying to locate the source of the noise; standing in the doorway was a slight, dark-haired figure with an uncertain expression on his face, holding a scrap of parchment.

Sirius recovered from the shock first. "Reg? What are you doing here?"

"I received this," Regulus Black held up the parchment in his hand. "Read it."

The group gathered around him and read the letter.

_Dear Regulus,_

_We would appreciate it if you made your way to the Room of Requirement where your brother, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Lily Evans are reading a book about the future. We would like you to read it with them._ The letter went on to explain the rules and what had already happened.

Another chair appeared, and Regulus sat on it. He took the book from his brother, trying to avoid the many suspicious looks in his direction.

"**The Wedding**," he began with obvious distaste. Why did he have to read _this _chapter?

**Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred and George standing outside the great, white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm. The plan was to introduce Harry as "Cousin Barny" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage him.**

"Will probably work," James shrugged, grinning along with the others (bar Regulus).

**All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden-jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree. Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot. **

Lily frowned, looking frosty. "They shouldn't be doing that."

**Behind Harry, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles are entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife. **

This seemed to make everyone smile after the tense last chapter.

**Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow. Harry was rather uncomfortable. The Muggle boy whose appearance he was affecting was slightly fatter than him, and his dress robes felt hot and tight in the full glare of a summer's day.**

"At least no-one knows who he is, so he can't be embarrassed about it," Sirius shrugged, causing the others to laugh, although in Regulus's case it was slightly sadly. This was what he was missing out on after his brother had ran away.

**"When I get married," said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes, "I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it's all over."**

"I'm sure she'll appreciate that," Remus snickered amongst the laughter.

**"She wasn't too bad this morning, considering," said George. "Cried a bit about Percy not being here, but who wants him? Oh blimey, brace yourselves— here they come, look."**

"They can't be worse than Mother's guests," Regulus raised an eyebrow. James was suddenly struck by how similar he and Sirius looked.

**Brightly coloured figures were appearing, one by one, out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes a procession had formed, which began to snake its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on the witches' hats, while precious gems glittered from many of the wizards' cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.**

**"Excellent, I think I see a few Veela cousins," said George, craning his neck for a better look. "They'll need help understanding our English customs, I'll look after them . . . . "**

"Typical man," Lily rolled her eyes. "Wait, I'm the only girl here? _Help_."

This comment caused many snorts.

**"Not so fast, Your Holeyness," said Fred, **

"They really need to improve those jokes," Sirius shook his head.

"Yes, these ones are pathetic," James nodded.

Regulus felt himself bristling towards James. _He _had been about to say that, damn it!

**and darting past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading the procession, he said, "Here—****_permettez-moi_**** to ****_assiter vous_****," to a pair of pretty French girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside. George was left to deal with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr. Weasley's old Ministry colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Harry's lot.**

"He's lucky," Lily remarked dryly.

**"Wotcher," said a familiar voice as he came out of the marquee again and found Tonks and Lupin at the front of the queue. **

Remus wondered how crazy he'd be this time.

**She had turned blonde for the occasion. **

"What?" Lily asked, astonished.

"Dora's a Metamorphmagus. She can change her appearance at will," Regulus explained.

**"Arthur told us you were the one with the curly hair. **

"Aren't there more people with curly hair?" James asked, confused.

**Sorry about last night," she added in a whisper as Harry led them up the aisle. "The Ministry's being very anti-werewolf at the moment and we thought our presence might not do you any favours."**

A look of comprehension passed over Lily's face.

"Of _course_! How could I be so stupid – the clues, they were all there! Remus, are you a werewolf?"

The werewolf in question froze. "Yes."

To his surprise, Lily stood up, walked swiftly towards him, and hugged him. "I'm sorry."

Remus smiled gratefully. He looked at Regulus with a worried expression on his face.

Regulus shrugged, his face unreadable. "I already knew." It really had been obvious – but Regulus was more than a casual observer of the marauders. Before anyone could question him, he kept on reading.

**"It's fine, I understand," said Harry, speaking more to Lupin than Tonks.**

"What's wrong with Dora?" Sirius joked half-heartedly, not really finding it funny – there had, after all, just been a rather large revelation.

**Lupin gave him a swift smile, but as they turned away, Harry saw Lupin's face fall again into lines of misery. **

The whole group groaned; this was getting really annoying now.

**He did not understand it, but there was no time to dwell on the matter: Hagrid was causing a certain amount of disruption. **

"What did he do?" Remus wondered.

**Having misunderstood Fred's directions he had sat himself, not upon the magically enlarged and reinforced seat set-aside for him in the back row, but on five seats that now resembled a large pile of golden matchsticks.**

Again, laughter reigned.

**While Mr. Weasley repaired the damage and Hagrid shouted apologies to anybody who would listen, **

"Nobody," James nodded seriously, causing much mirth.

**Harry hurried back to the entrance to find Ron face-to-face with a most eccentric-looking wizard. Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candy floss, he wore a cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of egg-yolk yellow. An odd symbol, rather like a triangular eye, glistened from a golden chain around his neck.**

"Well he's a little – odd," Lily blinked.

**"Xenophilius Lovegood," he said, **

"Yes, he is a little eccentric, isn't he?" Regulus agreed.

**extending a hand to Harry, "my daughter and I live just over the hill, so kind of the good Weasleys to invite us. But I think you know my Luna?" he added to Ron.**

**"Yes," said Ron. "Isn't she with you?"**

"They know his daughter? She must be good fun," Sirius snorted.

**"She lingered in that charming little garden to say hello to the gnomes, such a glorious infestation! How few wizards realize just how much we can learn from the wise little gnomes—or, to give them their correct name, the ****_Gernumbli gardensi_****."**

Many eyebrows were raised.

"Now _that's _one I've not heard before," Remus snorted.

**"Ours do know a lot of excellent swear words," said Ron, "but I think Fred and George taught them those."**

"Of course they did," James nodded, laughing.

**He led a party of warlocks into the marquee as Luna rushed up.**

**"Hello, Harry!" she said.**

"Isn't he under Polyjuice?" Lily asked, confused and (of course) a little worried.

**"Er—my name's Barny," said Harry, flummoxed.**

"I love that word," Remus put in brightly, causing many snickers and Lily to wonder if she _really _knew Remus Lupin.

**"Oh, have you changed that too?" she asked brightly.**

**"How did you know—?"**

**"Oh, just your expression," she said.**

"She's observant," Regulus noted, impressed. He was starting to settle down and become comfortable with the present company.

**Like her father, Luna was wearing bright yellow robes, which she had accessorized with a large sunflower in her hair. Once you got over the brightness of it all, the general effect was quite pleasant. At least there were no radishes dangling from her ears.**

Laughter cropped up again; this was certainly a less intense chapter than the last one.

**Xenophilius, who was deep in conversation with an acquaintance, had missed the exchange between Luna and Harry. Bidding the wizards farewell, he turned to his daughter, who held up her finger and said, "Daddy, look—one of the gnomes actually hit me!"**

"She should have that looked at," Lily said worriedly.

**"How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial!" said Mr. Lovegood, seizing Luna's outstretched finger and examining the bleeding puncture marks. "Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today— perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaim in Mermish—do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the****_ Gernumblies_****!"**

James gave an impressive snort.

**Ron, passing them in the opposite direction, let out a loud snort.**

**"Ron can laugh," said Luna serenely as Harry led her and Xenophilius toward their seats, "but my father has done a lot of research on ****_Gernumbli_**** magic."**

**"Really?" said Harry, who had long since decided not to challenge Luna or her father's peculiar views. **

"So they know each other well," Sirius noted approvingly; friendship was important to him.

**"Are you sure you don't want to put anything on that bite, though?"**

"She should," Remus frowned.

**"Oh, it's fine," said Luna, sucking her finger in a dreamy fashion and looking Harry up and down. "You look smart. I told Daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colours to a wedding, for luck, you know."**

"I suppose it's the idea that counts," Regulus shrugged. Sirius looked at him curiously; _this _didn't seem like the Death Eater supporter he had thought his brother was.

**As she drifted off after her father, Ron reappeared with an elderly witch clutching her arm. Her beaky nose, red-trimmed eyes, and feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.**

"I rather like that description," James laughed, amused.

**" . . . and you hair's much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginevra. Merlin's beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelette.**

"An omelette?" Lily asked incredulously while the others struggled to hold in their laughter. They had to give in; the temptation was simply too great.

**"And who are you?" she barked at Harry.**

**"Oh yeah, Auntie Muriel, this is our Cousin Barny."**

**"Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes. **

"Lovely woman, isn't she?" Remus raised an eyebrow.

**Isn't Harry Potter here? I was hoping to meet him. I thought he was a friend of yours, Ronald, or have you merely been boasting?"**

**"No—he couldn't come—"**

"Or he's standing right next to you, either way," Sirius commented nonchalantly.

**"Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then. I've just been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara," she shouted at Harry. "Goblin-made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She's a good-looking girl, but still—****_French_****. Well, well, find me a good seat, Ronald, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not to be on my feet too long."**

"I doubt that," Regulus said disbelievingly. A lot of his mother's guests were like that; over-exaggerating their age and expecting to be treated like they were more _superior _or something.

**Ron gave Harry a meaningful look as he passed and did not reappear for some time. **

"Poor Ron," James laughed.

**When next they met at the entrance, Harry had shown a dozen more people to their places. The marquee was nearly full now, and for the first time there was no queue outside.**

**"Nightmare, Muriel is," said Ron, mopping his forehead on his sleeve. "She used to come for Christmas every year, then, thank God, she took offence because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at dinner. **

"I'm sure everyone thanked them," Remus grinned.

**Dad always says she'll have written them out of her will—like they care, they're going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they're going . . . . Wow," he added, blinking rather rapidly as Hermione came hurrying toward them. "You look great!"**

"He's getting better with the compliments," Lily noticed, slightly surprised.

**"Always the tone of surprise," said Hermione, though she smiled. She was wearing a floaty, lilac-coloured dress with matching high heels; her hair was sleek and shiny. "Your Great Aunt Muriel doesn't agree, I just met her upstairs while she was giving Fleur the tiara. She said 'Oh dear, is this the Muggle-born?' and then 'Bad posture and skinny ankles'."**

"Prejudiced," Sirius glared at the book.

**"Don't take it personally, she's rude to everyone," said Ron.**

**"Talking about Muriel?" inquired George, re-emerging from the marquee with Fred. "Yeah, she's just told me my ears are lopsided. **

"That's horrible!" Lily stared at the book, appalled. She had the _nerve _to say that after his ear had been cursed off? That was really maddening!

**Old bat. I wish old Uncle Bilius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings."**

"I want to know about this," Regulus leaned forwards, interested.

**"Wasn't he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?" asked Hermione.**

**"Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end," conceded George.**

**"But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party," said Fred. "He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his—"**

"Wasn't he always a bit odd?" James asked through his laughter. The others shrugged, but no-one could speak; it was just _too _funny.

**"Yes, he sounds a real charmer," said Hermione, while Harry roared with laughter.**

**"Never married, for some reason," said Ron.**

"Really?" Remus asked sarcastically.

**"You amaze me," said Hermione.**

**They were all laughing so much that none of them noticed the latecomer, a dark-haired young man with a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows, until he held out his invitation to Ron and said, with his eyes on Hermione, "You look vunderful."**

"Someone for Ron to be jealous of?" Sirius smirked.

**"Viktor!" she shrieked, and dropped her small beaded bag, which made a loud thump quite disproportionate with its size. As she scrambled, blushing, to pick it up, she said, "I didn't know you were—goodness—it's lovely to see—how are you again?"**

"It seems these two have history," Regulus raised his eyebrows. Everyone seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

**Ron's ears had turned bright red again. After glancing at Krum's invitation as if he did not believe a word of it, he said, much too loudly, "How come you're here?"**

"He was invited," James replied, questioning Ron's sanity.

**"Fleur invited me," said Krum, eyebrows raised.**

**Harry, who had no grudge against Krum, shook hands; then, feeling that it would be prudent to remove Krum from Ron's vicinity, offered to show him his seat.**

"Good idea," Lily nodded.

**"You friend is not pleased to see me," said Krum as he entered the now packed marquee. "Or is he a relative?" he added with a glance at Harry's red curly hair.**

"He will be once Harry marries Ginny," Remus grinned.

**"Cousin," Harry muttered, but Krum was not really listening. His appearance was causing a stir, particularly amongst the Veela cousins: he was, after all, a famous Quidditch player. **

"Famous Quidditch player? Poor Ron," Sirius winced in sympathy.

**While people were still craning their necks to get a good look at him, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George came hurrying down the aisle.**

**"Time to sit down, " Fred told Harry, "or we're going to get run over by the bride."**

"Good idea," Regulus snorted.

**Harry, Ron and Hermione took their seats in the second row behind Fred and George. Hermione looked rather pink and Ron's ears were still scarlet. After a few moments he muttered to Harry, "Did you see he's grown a stupid little beard?"**

Laughter filled the room.

"Jealous," Lily coughed, causing the mirth to escalate.

**Harry gave a noncommittal grunt.**

"Probably the best thing to do," James laughed.

**A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives: Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst-coloured robes with a matching hat. A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with large white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the Veela cousins. Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.**

"Singing balloons!" cried Sirius, thinking it had been quiet for too long. Regulus sent him a glare and kept on reading.

**"Ooooh!" said Hermione, swivelling around in her seat to look at the entrance.**

**A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. **

"That would be quite an interesting sight," Remus smiled.

**Fleur was wearing a very simple white dresses and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everyone it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.**

"What?" Remus sat up straight suddenly. The other marauders looked at him sympathetically.

"Greyback bit him," James explained.

**"Ladies and gentlemen," said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Harry saw the same small, tufty-haired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore's funeral, now standing in front of bill and Fleur. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls . . . "**

"Boring," Regulus added under his breath, but quickly kept on reading for fear of being glared at (which he did not enjoy).

**"Yes, my tiara sets off the whole thing nicely," said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper. **

"Must she spoil the ceremony?" Lily asked, annoyed.

**"But I must say, Ginevra's dress is far too low cut."**

"I'm sure Harry liked that," Sirius smirked.

**Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Harry, and then quickly faced the front again. Harry's mind wandered a long way from the marquee, back to afternoons spent alone with Ginny in lonely parts of the school grounds. **

James raised his eyebrows, interested.

**They seemed so long ago; they had always seemed too good to be true, as though he had been stealing shining hours from a normal person's life, a person without a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. . . .**

Remus grimaced sympathetically; he knew how Harry felt. Being a werewolf made him feel excluded from the rest of the normal world, and really his life would never be one of a normal person's…

**"Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle. . . . ?" In the front row, Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. **

"Why do people cry at weddings?" Regulus wondered, slightly confused. Nobody could answer him; they didn't really seem to know.

**Trumpet like sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth sized handkerchiefs. Hermione turned and beamed at Harry; her eyes too were full of tears.**

**" . . . then I declare you bonded for life."**

Lily smiled. "Weddings are beautiful."

**The tufty-haired wizard waved his wand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiralling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst: birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.**

**"Ladies and gentlemen!" called the tufty-haired wizard. "If you would please stand up!"**

**They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; **

"Oh shut up," Sirius grumbled.

**he waved his wand again.**

**The seats on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs groped themselves around small white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth around it, and the golden-jacketed hand trooped toward a podium.**

"And that's what makes magical weddings so good," James nodded in a satisfied manner.

**"Smooth," said Ron approvingly as the waiters popped up on all sides, some bearing silver trays of pumpkin juice, Butterbeer and Firewhisky, others tottering piles of tarts and sandwiches.**

"Where did they come from?" Remus asked. "It says they 'popped up on all sides'. They can't have apparated because of the protective wards, so where did they come from?"

Regulus shrugged. "Disillusionment charm?"

Remus seemed to accept this, and allowed Regulus to keep reading.

**"We should go and congratulate them!" said Hermione, standing on tiptoe to see the place where Bill and Fleur had vanished amid a crowd of well-wishers.**

"That would be nice of them," Lily said with a smile.

**"We'll have time later," shrugged Ron, snatching three Butterbeers from a passing tray and handing one to Harry. "Hermione, cop hold, let's grab a table. . . not there! Nowhere near Muriel—"**

"Good idea," Sirius snorted, understanding Ron's concerns.

**Ron led the way across the empty dance floor, glancing left and right as he went: Harry felt sure that he was keeping an eye out for Krum. **

Once again, snorts filled the room – _young love_. Obviously, they had all forgotten how bad _they _were with their first (and in James's case, only) love.

**By the time they had reached the other side of the Marquee, most of the tables were occupied: the emptiest was the one where Luna sat alone.**

"This will be fun," James said brightly.

**"All right if we join you?" asked Ron.**

**"Oh yes," she said happily. "Daddy's just gone to give Bill and Fleur our present."**

**"What is it, a lifetime's supply of Gurdyroots?" asked Ron.**

**Hermione aimed a kick at him under the table, but caught Harry instead. **

"Ouch," everyone winced. That couldn't be pleasant.

**Eyes watering in pain, Harry lost track of the conversation for a few moments.**

**The band had begun to play. Bill and Fleur took to the dance floor first, to great applause; after a while, Mr. Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mrs. Weasley and Fleur's father.**

"It's traditional," Regulus nodded.

**"I like this song," said Luna, swaying in time to the waltz like tune, and a few seconds later she stood up and glided onto the dance floor, where she revolved on the spot, quit alone, eyes closed and waving her arms.**

Many eyebrows were raised.

"Well she's rather – interesting," Remus struggled to find words.

**"She's great, isn't she?" said Ron admiringly. "Always good value."**

Lily smiled approvingly. "They seem to be able to accept her for who she is, instead of subjecting her to ridicule." _Although they don't really seem the type to do that, _she added mentally.

**But the smile vanished from his face at once: Viktor Krum had dropped into Luna's vacant seat. **

Sirius grinned. "Now for some entertainment."

**Hermione looked pleasurably flustered, but this time Krum had not come to compliment her. With a scowl on his face he said, "Who is that man in the yellow?"**

"What's he done to piss off Krum?" James asked, wondering why the Quidditch player was scowling.

**"That's Xenophilius Lovegood, he's the father of a friend of ours," said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation. "Come and dance," he added abruptly to Hermione.**

"Well, I suppose that's one way to do it," Regulus shrugged.

**She looked taken aback, but pleased too, and got up. They vanished together into the growing throng on the dance floor.**

**"Ah, they are together now?" asked Krum, momentarily distracted.**

**"Er—sort of," said Harry.**

"No they're not," Remus disagreed, shaking his head. "They just need to admit that they want to be together, and that's when it will happen."

**"Who are you?" Krum asked.**

**"Barny Weasley."**

"Oh yeah – he is, isn't he?" Sirius nodded; he had half-forgotten this fact, and only remembered again when it had, once again, come to be mentioned.

**They shook hands.**

**"You, Barny—you know this man Lovegood vell?"**

**"No, I only met him today. Why?"**

"That's what I want to know," Lily nodded, still confused.

**Krum glowered over the top of his drink, watching Xenophilius, who was chatting to several warlocks on the other side of the dance floor.**

"Seriously, what's up with him?" James raised his eyebrows.

**"Because," said Krum, "if he was not a guest of Fleur's, I would duel him here and now, for vearing that filthy sign upon his chest."**

"What sign?" Regulus furrowed his eyebrows.

**"Sign?" said Harry, looking at Xenophilius too. The strange triangular eye was gleaming on his chest. "Why? What's wrong with it?"**

**"Grindelvald. That is Grindelvald's sign."**

"Grindelwald? Why would Xeno wear _his _sign?" Sirius asked confusedly.

**"Grindelwald . . . the Dark wizard Dumbledore defeated?"**

**"Exactly."**

The room was filled with puzzled expressions.

**Krum's jaw muscles worked as if he were chewing, then he said, "Grindelvald killed many people – my grandfather, for instance. Of course, he vos never poverful in this country, they said he feared Dumbledore—and rightly, seeing how he vos finished. But this"—he pointed a finger a Xenophilius—"this is his symbol, I recognized it at vunce: Grindelvald carved it into a vall at Durmstrang ver he vos a pupil there. Some idiots copied it into their books and clothes, thinking to shock, make themselves impressive—until those of us who had lost family members to Grindelvald taught them better."**

"He has a right to be annoyed then," Remus shrugged.

**Krum cracked his knuckles menacingly and glowered at Xenophilius. Harry felt perplexed. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Luna's father was a supporter of the Dark Arts, and nobody else in the tent seemed to have recognized the triangular, rune like shape.**

"But nobody else their went to Durmstrang, did they?" Lily pointed out.

"And nobody would really take notice of what Xeno was wearing, as he's really quite – er – odd," James agreed.

**"Are you—er—quite sure it's Grindelwald's—?"**

**"I am not mistaken," said Krum coldly. "I valked past that sign for several years, I know it vell."**

"It might not necessarily be Grindelwald's sign, though," Regulus said.

**"Well, there's a chance," said Harry, "that Xenophilius doesn't actually know what the symbol means. The Lovegoods are quite . . . unusual. He could easily have picked it up somewhere and think it's a cross section of the head of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or something."**

"Use terminology he understands, why don't you?" Sirius snorted.

**"The cross section of a vot?"**

They laughed.

**"Well, I don't know what they are, but apparently he and his daughter go on holiday looking for them. . . . "**

**Harry felt he was doing a bad job explaining Luna and her father.**

"You are," Remus nodded. "It's amusing, though."

**"That's her," he said, pointing at Luna, who was still dancing alone, waving her arms around her head like someone attempting to beat off midges.**

"Okay…" Lily nodded slowly.

**"Vy is she doing that?" asked Krum.**

**"Probably trying to get rid of a Wrackspurt," said Harry, who recognized the symptoms.**

"Symptoms? He makes it sound like a disease," James laughed.

**Krum did not seem to know whether or not Harry was making fun of him. He drew his wand from inside his robes and tapped it menacingly on his thigh; sparks flew out of the end.**

**"Gregorovitch!" said Harry loudly, **

"He's mad," Regulus stated, leaving no room for argument by quickly continuing to read.

**and Krum started, but Harry was too excited to care; the memory came back to him at the sight of Krum's wand: Ollivander taking it and examining it carefully before the Triwizard Tournament.**

"That could sound so wrong if it was taken out of context," Sirius stated happily. The others took a moment to see what he meant, then dissolved into snorts.

**"Vot about him?" asked Krum suspiciously.**

"He would be a fool not to be suspicious," Remus agreed.

"Does that mean I'm a fool then?" Lily asked brightly.

"No – we know his train of thought, but Krum has no idea whatsoever of what Harry's thinking. He doesn't even know he's talking to Harry!" replied Remus.

**"He's a wand maker!"**

"Gregorovitch is a wand maker? Then why would Voldemort want him?" James wondered.

"Maybe he wants a new wand," Regulus shrugged, not really caring.

"Yeah – didn't he say in the first chapter his own wand couldn't kill Harry?" Sirius thought hard. "And then Lucy's broke as well…"

"That makes sense," Remus nodded, mulling it over.

**"I know that," said Krum.**

**"He made your wand! That's why I thought—Quidditch—"**

**Krum was looking more and more suspicious.**

"Harry needs to be more careful," Lily said critically.

**"How do you know Gregorovitch made my vand?"**

**"I . . . I read it somewhere, I think," said Harry. "In a—a fan magazine," he improvised wildly and Krum looked mollified.**

"Play to his ego," James nodded approvingly. "It always works."

"You would know – yours is rather large," Sirius snorted.

**"I had not realized I ever discussed my vand with fans," he said.**

"Insert inappropriate comment here," Regulus was surprised that he was the one having to draw attention to this. He supposed he just could have let the statement slide; it just would have been a shame to let it go unappreciated.

Remus regarded Regulus thoughtfully. It seemed that although completely different in some aspects, the two brothers in the room were more similar than either of them had thought. To be honest, even he hadn't noticed this before; though, mind you, he'd never really seen much of Regulus.

**"So . . . er . . . where is Gregorovitch these days?"**

**Krum looked puzzled.**

"As he should be," Lily nodded.

**"He retired several years ago. I vos one of the last to purchase a Gregorovitch vand. They are the best—although I know, of course, that you Britons set much store by Ollivander."**

"Because _he's _the best," James retorted stubbornly. The others couldn't help but agree.

**Harry did not answer. He pretended to watch the dancers, like Krum, but he was thinking hard. So Voldemort was looking for a celebrated wandmaker, and Harry did not have to search far for a reason: it was surely because of what Harry's wand had done on the night that Voldemort had pursued him across the skies. The holly and phoenix feather had conquered the borrowed wand, something that Ollivander had not anticipated or understood. Would Gregorovitch know better? Was he truly more skilled than Ollivander, did he know secrets of wands that Ollivander did not?**

"Of course he doesn't," Sirius snapped scathingly.

**"This girl is very nice-looking," Krum said, recalling Harry to his surroundings. Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna. "She is also a relative of yours?"**

"She will be soon," Remus almost sang, causing the others to look at him strangely.

**"Yeah," said Harry, suddenly irritated, "and she's seeing someone. Jealous type. Big bloke. You wouldn't want to cross him."**

"Amusing," Regulus half-smiled.

**Krum grunted.**

**"Vot," he said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, "is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?"**

"It's fun? It's what you enjoy doing?" Lily suggested. She _really _didn't like this man.

**And he strode off, leaving Harry to take a sandwich from a passing waiter **

"Random," James blinked.

**and make his way around the edge of the crowded dance floor. He wanted to find Ron, to tell him about Gregorovitch, but he was dancing with Hermione out in the middle of the floor. Harry leaned up against one of the golden pillars and watched Ginny, who was now dancing with Fred and George's friend Lee Jordan, trying not to feel resentful about the promise he had given Ron.**

"I'm pretty sure he's not going to try something," Sirius laughed.

**He had never been to a wedding before, so he could not judge how Wizarding celebrations differed from Muggle ones, though he was pretty sure that the latter would not involve a wedding cake topped with two model phoenixes that took flight when the cake was cut, or bottles of champagne that floated unsupported through the crowd. **

"And I'm pretty sure he's right," Remus raised his eyebrows. "At least he has common sense, unlike one of his parents."

"Hey!" James protested indignantly.

"Why did you assume I was talking about you?" Remus smirked, causing James to splutter, trapped.

**As the evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, **

"There must be some sort of spell to prevent that from happening," Regulus raised his eyebrows.

**now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontained. Fred and George had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur's cousins; Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing 'Odo the Hero' in a corner.**

"Civilised," Lily murmured sarcastically.

**Wandering through the crowd so as to escape a drunken uncle of Ron's who seemed unsure whether or not Harry was his son, Harry spotted an old wizard sitting alone at a table. His cloud of white hair made him look rather likes an aged dandelion clock, **

"I like the descriptions in this book," Sirius said happily.

"Yeah, but you're not in it," Remus told him. "I wonder how it would describe you if you were?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Remus winced. Now _that _had not been a tactful way to remind someone they were dead. He sent an apologetic look in his friend's direction, and received an 'it's fine, don't worry' one in return.

**and was topped by a moth-eaten fez. He was vaguely familiar: racking his brains, Harry suddenly realized that this was Elphias Doge, member of the Order of the Phoenix, and the writer of Dumbledore's obituary.**

"That is _really _weird to think about," James stated, almost in awe.

**Harry approached him.**

**"May I sit down?"**

**"Of course, of course," said Doge; he had a rather high-pitched, wheezy voice.**

**Harry leaned in.**

**"Mr. Doge, I'm Harry Potter."**

"Now _that _was not very clever," Regulus groaned. Inside his mind, he frowned at himself. Was he _really _concerned about the son of someone he didn't know at all? He contemplated, biting his lip. Maybe he should get to know his brother's friends better – it might make Sirius slightly more friendly towards him.

**Doge gasped.**

**"My dear boy! Arthur told me you were here, disguised. . . . I am so glad, so honoured!"**

"That must be really weird for him," Lily commented. She wondered how Harry coped with so much unwanted attention. She couldn't cope when it was only one person (James).

**In a flutter of nervous pleasure Doge poured Harry a goblet of champagne.**

**"I've thought of writing to you," he whispered, "after Dumbledore . . . the shock . . . and for you, I am sure . . . "**

**Doge's tiny eyes filled with sudden tears.**

"For good reason," Sirius sounded unnaturally subdued.

**"I saw the obituary you wrote for the****_ Daily Prophet_****," said Harry. "I didn't realize you knew Professor Dumbledore so well."**

**"As well as anyone," said Doge, dabbing his eyes with a napkin. "Certainly I knew him longest, if you don't count Aberforth—and somehow, people never do seem to count Aberforth."**

"That's true," Remus frowned thoughtfully. "I didn't even know he had a brother. Or a sister, for that matter."

**"Speaking of the ****_Daily Prophet_**** . . . I don't know whether you saw, Mr. Doge—?"**

**"Oh, please call me Elphias, dear boy."**

**"Elphias, I don't know whether you saw the interview Rita Skeeter gave about Dumbledore?"**

"That's going to make him angry," James realized. "He really respected Dumbledore, so to mention someone who put him in that kind of light…"

**Doge's face flooded with angry colour.**

"This will be fun," Regulus leaned forwards gleefully.

**"Oh yes, Harry, I saw it. That woman, or vulture might be a more accurate term, positively pestered me to talk to her. I am ashamed to say that I became rather rude, called her an interfering trout, which resulted, as you may have seen, in aspersions cast upon my sanity."**

"She really is horrible," Lily grimaced at the thought of being pestered by Rita Skeeter.

**"Well, in that interview," Harry went on, "Rita Skeeter hinted that Professor Dumbledore was involved in the Dark Arts when he was young."**

"Which is decidedly not true," Sirius glared at the book.

**"Don't believe a word of it!" said Doge at once. "Not a word, Harry! Let nothing tarnish your memories of Albus Dumbledore!"**

"Exactly," Remus nodded obstinately.

**Harry looked into Doge's earnest, pained face and felt, not reassured, but frustrated. **

"Why?" James asked, confused.

**Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply****_ choose _****not to believe? Didn't Doge understand Harry's need to be sure, to know ****_everything_****?**

"Your son is annoying me," Regulus stated. Couldn't Harry just _believe _in his mentor, instead of questioning _everything_? _Everyone _did _something _bad sometime in their life.

**Perhaps Doge suspected Harry's feelings, for he looked concerned and hurried on, "Harry, Rita Skeeter is a dreadful—"**

**But he was interrupted by a shrill cackle.**

"Damn, I wanted to hear that description," Lily sighed, causing the others to look at her incredulously. It was a very un-Lily-like comment.

**"Rita Skeeter? Oh, I love her, always read her!"**

"So whoever's saying this we will not like," Sirius realized.

**Harry and Doge looked up to see Auntie Muriel standing there, the plumes dancing on her hat, a goblet of champagne in her hand. "She's written a book about Dumbledore, you know!"**

"Oh, it's her," Remus almost growled. He greatly respected Dumbledore – not many headmasters of Hogwarts would let a _werewolf _be a pupil in their school.

**"Hello, Muriel," said Doge. "Yes, we were just discussing—"**

**"You there! Give me your chair, I'm a hundred a seven!"**

"Doubt it," James raised his eyebrows.

**Another redheaded Weasley cousin jumped off his seat, looking alarmed, and Auntie Muriel swung around it with surprising strength and plopped herself down upon it between Doge and Harry.**

"Wonderful. Just what was missing," Regulus groaned.

**"Hello again, Barry, or whatever your name is," she said to Harry. **

"That's actually closer to his actual name," Sirius noted, slightly surprised. "She just got a mixture between the two – Barny and Harry, put them together and you get Barry."

**"Now, what were you saying about Rita Skeeter, Elphias? You know, she's written a biography of Dumbledore? I can't wait to read it, I must remember to place an order at Flourish and Blotts!"**

"And I must remember to be extra-specially mean to her," Remus said uncharacteristically, the others nodding their agreement.

**Doge looked stiff and solemn at this, but Auntie Muriel drained her goblet and clicked her bony fingers at a passing waiter for a replacement. She took another large gulp of champagne, belched, and then said, "There's no need to look like a pair of stuffed frogs! Before he came so respected and respectable and all that tosh, there were some mighty funny rumours about Albus!"**

"She is seriously pissing me off," James glared.

**"Ill—informed sniping," said Doge, turning radish-coloured again.**

**"You would say that, Elphias," cackled Auntie Muriel. "I noticed how you skated over the sticky patches in that obituary of yours!"**

"Obituaries are not there to dish the dirt onto someone!" Regulus told the book furiously. "They are written from the heart, and it is cruel to tell someone that theirs is inaccurate!"

**"I'm sorry you think so," said Doge, more coldly still. "I assure you I was writing from the heart."**

"What you said," Sirius nodded his head towards Regulus.

**"Oh, we all know you worshipped Dumbledore; I daresay you'll still think he was a saint even if it does turn out that he did away with his Squib sister!"**

"Dumbledore would never do that," Remus stated coldly.

**"Muriel!" exclaimed Doge.**

**A chill that had nothing to do with the iced champagne was stealing through Harry's chest.**

**"What do you mean?" he asked Muriel. "Who said his sister was a Squib? I thought she was ill?"**

"She was," Lily growled, although she really had no evidence to support this fact. Appalled by what that _awful _woman had been saying, she had not been able to talk for fear of becoming too angry.

**"Thought wrong, then, didn't you, Barry!" said Auntie Muriel, looking delighted at the effect she had produced. "Anyway, how could you expect to know anything about it! It all happened years and years before you were even thought of, my dear, and the truth is that those of us who were alive then never knew what really happened. That's why I can't wait to find out what Skeeter's un-earthed! Dumbledore kept that sister of his quiet for a long time!"**

"Because he was sad he was dead! He has a right not to want to talk about someone who was dear to him and recently passed away!" James retorted, shaking with fury. The other four were not in a better state.

**"Untrue!" wheezed Doge, "Absolutely untrue!"**

**"He never told me his sister was a Squib," said Harry, without thinking, still cold inside.**

"He really does have to be more careful controlling his emotions," Regulus criticized.

**"And why on earth would he tell you?" screeched Muriel, swaying a little in her seat as she attempted to focus upon Harry.**

"She's had too much to drink," Remus noted disapprovingly.

"Why the hell did they invite her anyway?" Sirius asked in disgust.

Lily shrugged. "Manners, I suppose. And she's pretty wealthy as well – they might need the money from her will."

"That seems pretty selfish," James said in surprise.

"Not to seem rude, but they kind of do need the money. That's not being selfish, that's being sensible," Regulus pointed out. The others couldn't disagree.

**"The reason Albus never spoke about Ariana," began Elphias in a voice stiff with emotion, "is, I should have thought, quite clear. He was so devastated by her death—"**

"At least _he _has some common sense," Remus's voice was shaking with fury.

**"Why did nobody ever see her, Elphias?" squawked Muriel, "Why did half of us never even know she existed, until they carried the coffin out of the house and held a funeral for her? Where was saintly Albus while Ariana was locked in the cellar? Off being brilliant at Hogwarts, and never mind what was going on in his own house!"**

"She was not locked in a cellar!" Sirius protested weakly. "She was ill, so she had to be confined to the house!"

**"What d'you mean, 'locked in the cellar'?" asked Harry. "What is this?"**

"How can he believe this?" Lily cried desperately.

**Doge looked wretched. Auntie Muriel cackled again and answered Harry.**

**"Dumbledore's mother was a terrifying woman, simply terrifying. Muggle-born, though I heard she pretended otherwise—"**

"I don't think I can take much more of this," James whispered, still glaring daggers at the book. Regulus, who was reading it, shifted uncomfortably.

**"She never pretended anything of the sort! Kendra was a fine woman," whispered Doge miserably, but Auntie Muriel ignored him.**

**"—proud and very domineering, the sort of witch who would have been mortified to produce a Squib—"**

**"Ariana was not a Squib!" wheezed Doge.**

"She was ill!" Remus protested again, but the argument was starting to sound fake. He shook himself; of _course _she was ill, there was nothing wrong with the Dumbledores!

**"So you say, Elphias, but explain, then, why she never attended Hogwarts!" said Auntie Muriel. She turned back to Harry. "In our day, Squibs were often hushed up, thought to take it to the extreme of actually imprisoning a little girl in the house and pretending she didn't exist—–"**

"Or she was ill and couldn't go out," Sirius suggested. Sure, it had been said loads of times, but it was true, damn it!

**"I tell you, that's not what happened!" said Doge, but Auntie Muriel steamrollered on, still addressing Harry.**

"Regulus, can you just read please?" Lily asked. "Nobody say anything. That way we can get this over faster."

The others agreed, and Regulus quickly read on.

**"Squibs were usually shipped off to Muggle schools and encouraged to integrate into the Muggle community . . . much kinder than trying to find them a place in the Wizarding world, where they must always be second class, but naturally Kendra Dumbledore wouldn't have dreamed of letting her daughter go to a Muggle school—–"**

**"Ariana was delicate!" said Doge desperately. "Her health was always too poor to permit her—"**

**"—to permit her to leave the house?" cackled Muriel. "And yet she was never taken to St. Mungo's and no Healer was ever summoned to see her!"**

**"Really, Muriel, how can you possibly know whether—"**

**"For your information, Elphias, my cousin Lancelot was a Healer at St. Mungo's at the time, and he told my family in strictest confidence that Ariana had never been seen there. All most suspicious, Lancelot thought!"**

**Doge looked to be on the verge of tears. Auntie Muriel, who seemed to be enjoying herself hugely, snapped her fingers for more champagne. Numbly Harry thought of how the Dursleys had once shut him up, locked him away, and kept him out of sight, all for the crime of being a wizard. Had Dumbledore's sister suffered the same fate in reverse: imprisoned for her lack of magic? Had Dumbledore truly left her to her fate while he went off to Hogwarts to prove himself brilliant and talented?**

Most people looked like they wanted to say something about this, but they swallowed their anger and wished the chapter would be over soon. How had such a promising chapter gone down the drain?

**"Now, if Kendra hadn't died first," Muriel resumed, "I'd have said that it was she who finished off Ariana-"**

**"How can you, Muriel!" groaned Doge. "A mother killing her own daughter? Think what you're saying!"**

**"If the mother in question was capable of imprisoning her daughter for years on end, why not?" shrugged Auntie Muriel. "But as I say, it doesn't fit, because Kendra died before Ariana—of what, nobody ever seemed sure—"**

**"Yes, Ariana might have made a desperate bid for freedom and killed Kendra in the struggle," said Auntie Muriel thoughtfully. "Shake your head all you like, Elphias. You were at Ariana's funeral, were you not?"**

**"Yes I was," said Doge, through trembling lips, "and a more desperately sad occasion I cannot remember. Albus was heartbroken—"**

**"His heart wasn't the only thing. Didn't Aberforth break Albus' nose halfway through the service?"**

**If Doge had looked horrified before this, it was nothing to how he looked now. Muriel might have stabbed him. She cackled loudly and took another swig of champagne, which dribbled down her chin.**

**"How do you—?" croaked Doge.**

**"My mother was friendly with old Bathilda Bagshot," said Auntie Muriel happily. "Bathilda described the whole thing to mother while I was listening at the door. A coffin-side brawl! The way Bathilda told it, Aberforth shouted that it was all Albus' fault that Ariana was dead and then punched him in the face. According to Bathilda, Albus did not even defend himself, and that's odd enough in itself. Albus could have destroyed Aberforth in a duel with both hands tied behind his back."**

**Muriel swigged yet more champagne. The recitation of those old scandals seemed to elate her as much as they horrified Doge. Harry did not know what to think, what to believe. He wanted the truth and yet all Doge did was sit there and bleat feebly that Ariana had been ill. Harry could hardly believe that Dumbledore would not have intervened if such cruelty was happening inside his own house, and yet there was undoubtedly something odd about the story.**

**"And I'll tell you something else," Muriel said, hiccupping slightly as she lowered her goblet. "I think Bathilda has spilled the beans to Rita Skeeter. All those hints in Skeeter's interview about an important source close to the Dumbledores—goodness knows she was there all through the Ariana business, and it would fit!"**

**"Bathilda would never talk to Rita Skeeter!" whispered Doge.**

**"Bathilda Bagshot?" Harry said. "The author of ****_A History of Magic_****?"**

**The name was printed on the front of one of Harry's textbooks, though admittedly not one of the ones he had read more attentively.**

**"Yes," said Doge, clutching at Harry's question like a drowning man at a life heir. "A most gifted magical historian and an old friend of Albus's."**

**"Quite gaga these days, I've heard," said Auntie Muriel cheerfully.**

**"If that is so, it is even more dishonourable for Skeeter to have taken advantage of her," said Doge, "and no reliance can be placed on anything Bathilda may have said!"**

**"Oh, there are ways of bringing back memories, and I'm sure Rita Skeeter knows them all," said Auntie Muriel. "But even if Bathilda's completely cuckoo, I'm sure she'd still have old photographs, maybe even letters. She knew the Dumbledores for years. . . . Well worth a trip to Godric's Hollow, I'd have thought."**

**Harry, who had been taking a sip of Butterbeer, choked. Doge banged him on the back as Harry coughed, looking at Auntie Muriel through streaming eyes. Once he had control of his voice again, he asked, "Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric's Hollow?"**

**"Oh yes, she's been there forever! The Dumbledores moved there after Percival was imprisoned, and she was their neighbour."**

**"The Dumbledores lived in Godric's Hollow?"**

**"Yes, Barry, that's what I just said," said Auntie Muriel testily.**

**Harry felt drained, empty. Never once, in six years, had Dumbledore told Harry that they had both lived and lost loved ones in Godric's Hollow. Why?**

**Were Lily and James buried close to Dumbledore's mother and sister?**

There were many winces at the reminder.

**Had Dumbledore visited their graves, perhaps walked past Lily's and James's to do so? And he had never once told Harry . . . never bothered to say . . .**

**And why it was so important, Harry could not explain even to himself, yet he felt it had been tantamount to a lie not to tell him that they had this place and these experiences in common. He stared ahead of him, barely noticing what was going on around him, and did not realize that Hermione had appeared out of the crowd until she drew up a chair beside him.**

"Finally it's over!" James sighed with relief, looking quite shaken.

**"I simply can't dance anymore," she panted, slipping of one of her shoes and rubbing the sole of her foot. "Ron's gone looking to find more Butterbeers. It's a bit odd. I've just seen Viktor storming away from Luna's father, it looked like they'd been arguing—" She dropped her voice, staring at him. "Harry, are you okay?"**

"No, he's not, and it would be impossible to be okay after what he's just heard," Regulus replied, still slightly pale.

**Harry did not know where to begin, but it did not matter, at that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance.**

**Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.**

Regulus suddenly turned pale and read the next line in horror.

**"****_The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming._****"**

"I'll read next," Remus almost snatched the book from Regulus, turned to the next page, and continued reading hurriedly.


	11. Chapter 11 A Place To Hide

"**A Place to Hide**," Remus read worriedly. The others shared concerned looks.

**Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. **

"At least they're being aware," James said approvingly.

Sirius nodded his agreement. "They're not flapping around or doing anything rash."

The 'doing anything rash' comment caused Remus to snort. Who was Sirius to advise against it?

**Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.**

That last sentence made the tension almost unbearable. Lily bit her lip, hard. She had only just discovered she had a son (even though he was from the future) – she didn't want to lose him now!

**Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.**

"And in the wedding too," Regulus sounded strangely sympathetic. Sirius gave him a strange look; _that_ didn't sound like the brother he knew.

**"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"**

"This is why they should always stick together," James almost moaned. "Always keep your friends by your side."

**As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides –**

Remus gave a half-smile – at least the crazy version of him was competent.

**"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing **

"She needs to stay strong or she'll be of no use," Lily murmured worriedly.

**as she and Harry were buffered by terrified guests: Harry seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister he did not know –**

**And then Ron was there. **

Sighs of relief were plentiful.

**He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Harry felt her turn on the spot; sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon him; all he could feel was Hermione's hand as he was squeezed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from the descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself. . . .**

"He is slightly pessimistic," Regulus murmured, but there was no real bite in his voice. To tell the truth, he also had been slightly worried about the trio.

**"Where are we?" said Ron's voice.**

**Harry opened his eyes. For a moment he thought they had not left the wedding after all; they still seemed to be surrounded by people.**

"Er – why?" Sirius asked, confused.

**"Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."**

"That can't be safe," Lily frowned worriedly. "They need to find cover. Right now they're completely unprotected!"

"But isn't that what the Death Eaters would suspect?" James pointed out. "They never would expect three people with magic, who are also on the run, to just walk down a Muggle street."

"Prongs is right," Remus agreed. "They really are far safer where they are now."

Lily was astounded once again. Really, who knew that _James Potter _could really be that insightful?

**Harry did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revellers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed; Harry and Ron were still wearing dress robes.**

'I expect that's why they need to change," Regulus gave a rare smile.

**"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.**

"Hermione thinks of everything," Remus grinned; he was sure the girl had something planned.

**"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" said Harry, inwardly cursing his own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and –"**

"Why?" James interrupted suddenly. "Why would he need to carry around the Cloak all year?" He really was starting to question his son's safety over his years of Hogwarts.

**"It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for both of you," said Hermione, "Just try and act naturally until – this will do."**

"How did she manage that?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

**She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.**

**"When you say you've got the Cloak, and clothes . . ." said Harry, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging.**

"Undetectable Extension Charm," Lily recognized, with an admiring expression on her face. "I've read about those, but they seem really difficult – I haven't tried to do it before."

"I'm sure you could do it if you tried," James told her.

Lily smiled, accepting the compliment, trying to ignore the fact that she couldn't _abide_ the person who gave it to her – perhaps she could abide him a _little _bit.

**"Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to Harry and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.**

"Good girl," Regulus looked approving.

**"How the ruddy hell – ?"**

**"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here." She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject. . . . Oh well. . . . Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change. . . ."**

"I'm sure she was eager to see that," Remus grinned mischievously.

Once again, Lily was shocked. Did she _really _know anyone in this room properly?

**"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as Ron stripped off his robes.**

**"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Harry, after you changed, and put it in here. . . . I just had a feeling. . . ."**

"It's always useful to pay attention to your feelings. They're generally right," James nodded.

**"You're amazing, you are," said Ron, handing her his bundled-up robes.**

**"Thank you," said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag. "Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!"**

"He hasn't got in on yet?" Sirius asked, bewildered.

**Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight. He was only just beginning to appreciate what had happened.**

**"The others – everybody at the wedding –"**

"Will be safe," Lily said firmly, refusing to worry even more after everything that had just happened.

**"We can't worry about that now," whispered Hermione. "It's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."**

"Right again," Regulus nodded. Really, did Harry and Ron really need her to spell everything out for them? They were perfectly capable of doing it themselves.

**"She's right," said Ron, who seemed to know that Harry was about to argue, even if he could not see his face. "Most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone."**

**Harry nodded, then remembered that they could not see him, and said, "Yeah." But he thought of Ginny, and fear bubbled like acid in his stomach.**

"He's only worried about Ginny? I feel loved," Remus spoke dryly.

James grinned at him. "Give the boy a break. He's young and in love – all he worries about is the girl."

**"Come on, I think we ought to keep moving," said Hermione.**

**They moved back up the side street and onto the main road again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and weaving across the pavement.**

**"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione.**

"He only thought to ask that then?" Sirius asked incredulously.

**"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."**

**"True," said Ron, looking around, "but don't you feel a bit – exposed?"**

"Those are my thoughts," Lily agreed.

**"Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her. "We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there. . . . I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there. . . . Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"**

"Don't we all?" Regulus shook his head, disgusted at the behaviour of those Muggles.

**"All right, darling?" the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling. "Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"**

"Even a drunk person saw that Hermione was with Ron and not Harry," Remus smiled. "It just shows how obvious it is – they're the only people who don't realise how perfect they are together."

**"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily as Ron opened his mouth to shout back across the road. "Look, this will do, in here!"**

"Avoid trouble," James nodded seriously.

"Yeah, there's loads to come, don't be greedy – " Sirius ducked a pillow headed his way. "I thought we were done with the pillows!"

"Well you thought wrong, didn't you?" Lily retorted, but her face held a slight smile.

**It was a small and shabby all-night café. A light layer of grease lay on all the Formica-topped tables, but it was at least empty. Harry slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to him opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it: she glanced over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch. **

"She either needs to be more discreet, or change sides," Regulus commented critically.

**Harry did not like being stationary; walking had given the illusion that they had a goal. Beneath the Cloak he could feel the last vestiges of Polyjuice leaving him, his hands returning to their usual length and shape. He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on again.**

"They're still undamaged?" Remus raised his eyebrows incredulously.

**After a minute or two, Ron said, "You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross –"**

"They can't," James said suddenly. "Nowhere like that, no exceptions."

"I think this father business has gone to your head, mate," Sirius told him. "Since when did you worry about those kind of things? We never do."

"Yeah, but this is my _son_, Pads. I'm more worried about his safety than I am about my own."

Sirius studied his friend. "Still, lighten up a bit," he said at last.

**"Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.**

**"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"**

**"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"**

"His ideas are being shot down again," Lily noticed worriedly. "That really isn't going to end well."

**"Okay, okay, it was just an idea!" They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: as Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one. A pair of burly workmen entered the café and squeezed into the next booth. **

"They must be important to have been mentioned," Regulus pointed out, suspicious.

**Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper.**

**"I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."**

"Good idea, but couldn't the message be tracked?" Remus asked.

**"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" asked Ron.**

**"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.**

"'Course she can do it, it's Hermione," James said easily.

Against her will, Lily felt the sudden longing for Hermione's name to be substituted for her own in that sentence.

**"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Ron added after one sip of the foamy, greyish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Harry came to look at him, waved her away. She stared, affronted.**

"They really are getting quite suspicious," Sirius unintentionally agreed with his brother.

**"Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," said Ron. "Hermione, have you got Muggle money to pay for this?"**

**"Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow. I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," sighed Hermione, reaching for her beaded bag.**

"That's a shame, she shouldn't really have to spend her money on this journey," Lily said sadly, imagining having to do just that.

**The two workmen made identical movements, and Harry mirrored them without conscious thought: all three of them drew their wands. **

"Knew it," Regulus muttered tensely under his breath.

**Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench. The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been, as Harry, still invisible, yelled, "****_Stupefy_****!"**

"Thank Merlin he's over seventeen," Remus said shakily.

**The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: he slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at Ron: shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound Ron head to foot – the waitress screamed and ran for the door – Harry sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face who had tied up Ron, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.**

"I suppose she's better off like that," James put in, but he didn't really look happy at the situation the waitress was in.

**"****_Expulso_****!" bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Harry was standing blew up: the force of the explosion slammed him into the wall and he felt his wand leave his hand as the Cloak slipped off him.**

"Not good," Sirius bit his lip worriedly.

**"****_Petrificus Totalus_****!" screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee. Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair and trembling all over.**

"It was a big shock," Lily said kindly. "They weren't expecting Death Eaters to jump out on them like that."

"The worrying thing is, how the hell did the Death Eaters know where to find them?" Regulus pointed out. "If they're being tracked, they're not going to be able to do _anything _without being ambushed."

**"****_D-diffindo_****," she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! ****_Diffindo_****!"**

"Yet she still tries again," Remus raised an eyebrow, slightly amused.

**The severed ropes fell away. Ron got to his feet, shaking his arms to regain feeling in them. Harry picked up his wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater was sprawled across the bench.**

**"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," he said. **

Again, many people winced.

**He turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between Harry, Ron and Hermione.**

"They should Obliviate him," said James at once.

Sirius nodded. "Otherwise he'll be able to tell Voldemort and the rest of the Death Eaters everything. It's better to just let them think they encountered nothing."

**"That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."**

**"Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?"**

"She should stop panicking," Lily said, a little frantic herself.

"You're not really following your own advice," Regulus told her, impervious to her withering glare.

**Somehow her panic seemed to clear Harry's head.**

"Sign of a good leader," Remus said approvingly.

**"Lock the door," he told her, "and Ron, turn out the lights."**

**He looked down at the paralyzed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the café into darkness. Harry could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance.**

"Random!" James called out, trying to dispel the tension. It worked a little; a few people cracked small smiles and Sirius looked approving. Lily also didn't seem to mind – in fact, she seemed a little grateful James had stopped being so serious. _With him, seriousness isn't natural_ she thought.

**"What are we going to do with them?" Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."**

"It'd be obvious where they were," Sirius murmured, not liking the idea.

**Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harry shook his head.**

**"We just need to wipe their memories," said Harry. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."**

Lily was relieved that Harry had not decided to kill them, but she was still a little concerned that Harry had only chosen because of practical reasons, not because it was the wrong thing to do. _But it's a war_ she supposed.

**"You're the boss," said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. "But I've never done a Memory Charm."**

**"Nor have I," said Hermione, "but I know the theory."**

"Didn't she erase her parents memories, though?" Regulus asked, confused.

Remus shook his head. "No – she only modified her parent's memories, so they wouldn't remember her. With these two, she's completely erasing their recollections of this event."

Regulus nodded his thanks, understanding.

**She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said, "****_Obliviate_****."**

**At once, Dolohov's eyes became unfocused and dreamy.**

**"Brilliant!" said Harry, clapping her on the back. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."**

**"Clear up?" said Ron, looking around at the partly destroyed café. "Why?"**

"I'll use the excuse he's just had a big shock…" James snorted.

**"Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?"**

**"Oh right, yeah . . ."**

"No really?" Sirius asked sarcastically, but Lily gave him a reproachful look.

"Be nice."

**Ron struggled for a moment before managing to extract his wand from his pocket.**

**"It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."**

"That's definitely going to endear her to him," Regulus shook his head, now fully questioning the intelligence of Ron.

**"Oh, I'm so sorry," hissed Hermione, and as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows, Harry heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead.**

"Lovely," Remus grinned.

**Once the café was restored to its previous condition, they heaved the Death Eaters back into their booth and propped them up facing each other. "But how did they find us?" Hermione asked, looking from one inert man to the other. "How did they know where we were?"**

"That's what I want to know," James said, suddenly alert.

**She turned to Harry.**

**"You – you don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Harry?"**

**"He can't have," said Ron. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding law, you can't put it on an adult."**

"But Death Eaters don't exactly stick to the law, do they?" Sirius said sceptically.

Lily shook her head. "It's not just the law – it's just impossible to place the Trace on someone over seventeen. There are other enchantments that could accomplish the same thing."

**"As far as you know," said Hermione. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"**

**"But Harry hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"**

"At the wedding?" Regulus suggested.

**Hermione did not reply. Harry felt contaminated, tainted: was that really how the Death Eaters had found them?**

**"If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position – " he began.**

"They're not splitting up," Remus put in firmly.

**"We're not splitting up!" said Hermione firmly.**

**"We need a safe place to hide," said Ron. "Give us time to think things through."**

**"Grimmauld Place," said Harry.**

Sirius and Regulus both stiffened. The others looked curious; they had heard from Sirius how bad it was, but didn't actually know that much about it. This would be interesting.

**The other two gaped.**

**"Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!"**

"There are enchantments," James shrugged, dismissing the problem.

**"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him – and even if they haven't worked," he pressed on as Hermione began to argue, "so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"**

"I agree," Sirius had an evil glint in his eye. Lily grimaced.

**"But –"**

**"Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."**

**She could not argue, though she looked as if she would have liked to. While she unlocked the café door, Ron clicked the Deluminator to release the café's light. Then, on Harry's count of three, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, Harry, Ron and Hermione had turned on the spot and vanished into the compressing darkness once more.**

James, Remus and Lily leant forwards eagerly.

"Don't get excited," Regulus groaned. "It's not the nicest place in the world." He ignored Sirius's shocked look.

**Seconds later Harry's lungs expanded gratefully and he opened his eyes: they were now standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. **

"I would rather it if it wasn't familiar," Sirius muttered. He had not thought of his childhood home since leaving, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to revisiting it (even in his mind).

**Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for they had been told of its existence by Dumbledore, its Secret-Keeper, and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed. **

"That was a long sentence," Remus blinked, shocked.

**They raced up the stone steps, and Harry tapped the front door once with his wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.**

"Yay," Sirius and Regulus both said under their breath, similar in tones, unbeknownst to the other.

**As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Harry remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. **

"House-elf heads?" Lily asked, disgusted. "You have a seriously disturbing family."

**Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother. **

"Portrait?" Regulus questioned.

Sirius shrugged. "She'd still want to be around, even when she was dead. Old hag."

**The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.**

"Moony's – "

"Prongs, I advise you stop that sentence right now," Remus glared at his friend.

**"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.**

**"That could've happened as the Order left," Ron murmured back.**

"Doubt it," Lily narrowed her eyebrows.

**"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked.**

**"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" suggested Ron.**

**Yet they remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.**

"As they should be. If Moody did the jinxes, it's not exactly safe," James grinned.

**"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Harry, and he took a step forward.**

**"Severus Snape?"**

"No – Harry, Ron and Hermione," Regulus said patronisingly, causing the others to give him strange looks.

**Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright. "We're not Snape!" croaked Harry, before something whooshed over him like cold air and his tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before he had time to feel inside his mouth, however, his tongue had unravelled again.**

"Pleasant," Sirius grimaced.

**The other two seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered, "That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"**

**Gingerly Harry took another step forward. **

"I believe a shield charm could come in handy there," Remus suggested.

**Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-coloured and terrible; Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; **

"Is that bad?" Lily asked.

"It is," James nodded, peering at his best friend's cold face.

**the grey figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets: horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Harry.**

"Imaginative," Regulus said dryly.

**"No!" Harry shouted, and though he had raised his wand no spell occurred to him. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you –"**

**On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust: coughing, his eyes watering, Harry looked around to see Hermione crouched on the floor by the door with her arms over her head, and Ron, who was shaking from head to foot, patting her clumsily on the shoulder and saying, "It's all r-right. . . . It's g-gone. . . ."**

"Thank Merlin," Lily said shakily.

**Dust swirled around Harry like mist, catching the blue gaslight, as Mrs. Black continued to scream.**

**"****_Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonour, taint of shame on the house of my fathers –"_**

"Lovely woman isn't she?" Sirius said in a monotonous voice.

**"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed, directing his wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her.**

"I should try that some time," Regulus murmured. "But without the red sparks. I find green classier."

**"That . . . that was . . . " Hermione whimpered, as Ron helped her to her feet.**

**"Yeah," said Harry, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape." Had it worked, Harry wondered, or had Snape already blasted the horror-figure aside as casually as he had killed the real Dumbledore?**

"He really needs to stop being so pessimistic. It won't help anything," Remus said worriedly.

**Nerves still tingling, he led the other two up the hall, half-expecting some new terror to reveal itself, but nothing moved except for a mouse skittering along the skirting board.**

**"Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, "****_Homenum revelio_****."**

**Nothing happened.**

"Good," Lily sighed, relieved.

**"Well, you've just had a big shock," said Ron kindly. "What was that supposed to do?"**

"Smooth," Regulus snorted.

**"That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"**

**"And old Dusty," said Ron, glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.**

**"Let's go up," said Hermione with a frightened look at the same spot, and she led the way up the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.**

"And begin the horridness," Sirius was looking annoyed.

**Hermione waved her wand to ignite the old gas lamps, then, shivering slightly in the drafty room, she perched on the sofa, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Ron crossed to the window and moved the heavy velvet curtains aside an inch.**

**"Can't see anyone out there," he reported. **

"They might be invisible," Remus pointed out.

**"And you'd think, if Harry still had a Trace on him, they'd have followed us here. I know they can't get in the house, but – what's up, Harry?"**

**Harry had given a cry of pain: his scar had burned against as something flashed across his mind like a bright light on water. He saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not his own pound through his body, violent and brief as an electric shock.**

They sat up straight.

"Another vision?" Lily wondered, biting her lip.

**"What did you see?" Ron asked, advancing on Harry. "Did you see him at my place?"**

**"No, I just felt anger – he's really angry –"**

"So he can just feel feelings as well?" James deduced.

**"But that could be at the Burrow," said Ron loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"**

**"No, I just felt anger – I couldn't tell –"**

**Harry felt badgered, confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice, "Your scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that connection had closed!"**

"They're really not helping, are they?" Regulus said critically, a disapproving look on his face.

**"It did, for a while," muttered Harry; his scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. "I – I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to –"**

**"But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "Harry, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember –"**

"She is definitely not helping," Sirius ground out, his teeth gritted in annoyance.

**"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," said Harry through gritted teeth; he did not need Hermione to tell him that Voldemort had once used this selfsame connection between them to lead him into a trap, nor that it had resulted in Sirius's death. **

At this everyone sat up straight.

"What – "

Remus's croak was the closest they got to speaking.

"Carry on," Sirius said quietly, and Remus complied, albeit shakily.

**He wished that he had not told them what he had seen and felt; it made Voldemort more threatening, as though he were pressing against the window of the room, and still the pain in his scar was building and he fought it: it was like resisting the urge to be sick.**

Lily winced, wishing her son didn't have to go through this.

**He turned his back on Ron and Hermione, pretending to examine the old tapestry of the Black family tree on the wall. **

"Because they will definitely buy that," James raised his eyebrows. "People always inspect old family trees in their free time."

**Then Hermione shrieked: Harry drew his wand again and spun around to see a silver Patronus soar through the drawing room window and land upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into the weasel that spoke with the voice of Ron's father.**

**"****_Family_****_safe, do not reply, we are being watched_****."**

All five sighed in relief. The tension seemed to dissipate slowly, and if almost felt as if a giant weight had lifted from the room.

**The Patronus dissolved into nothingness. Ron let out a noise between a whimper and a groan and dropped onto the sofa: Hermione joined him, gripping his arm.**

**"They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.**

"And they still don't realise they love each other," Regulus rolled his eyes.

**"Harry," he said over Hermione's shoulder, "I –"**

**"It's not a problem," said Harry, sickened by the pain in his head. "It's your family, 'course you were worried. I'd feel the same way." He thought of Ginny. "I do feel the same way."**

"Again, I feel left out," Remus snorted, causing the others to laugh a little.

**The pain in his scar was reaching a peak, burning as it had back in the garden of the Burrow. Faintly he heard Hermione say, "I don't want to be on my own. Could we use the sleeping bags I've brought and camp in here tonight?"**

**He heard Ron agree.**

"That is slightly sickening," Sirius pulled a face. Whether he was joking or not was unclear.

**He could not fight the pain much longer. He had to succumb.**

**"Bathroom," he muttered, and he left the room as fast as he could without running.**

"Because that is so not suspicious," Lily glared slightly at the book.

**He barely made it: bolting the door behind him with trembling hands, he grasped his pounding head and fell to the floor, then in an explosion of agony, he felt the rage that did not belong to him possess his soul, saw a long room lit only by firelight, and the giant blond Death Eater on the floor, screaming and writhing, and a slighter figure standing over him, wand outstretched, while Harry spoke in a high, cold, merciless voice.**

"No – Voldemort did!" James said forcefully. "He may be seeing through Voldemort's eyes, but that doesn't mean Harry's doing the things Voldemort is."

The others nodded their agreement.

**"More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time. . . . **

"Why does he always speak in third person?" Regulus wondered idly, trying to forget what was happening to a Death Eater, a thing he was considering becoming very soon.

**You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure. . . . Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!"**

**A log fell in the fire: flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face – with a sense of emerging from deep water, Harry drew heaving breaths and opened his eyes.**

**He was spread-eagled on the cold black marble floor, his nose inches from one of the silver serpent tails that supported the large bathtub. **

"That needs to be changed. Something I need to do while I'm still alive," Sirius said, actually considering making a note of it.

**He sat up. Malfoy's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of his eyes. Harry felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.**

**There was a sharp rap on the door, and Harry jumped as Hermione's voice rang out.**

**"Harry, do you want your toothbrush? I've got it here."**

**"Yeah, great, thanks," he said, fighting to keep his voice casual as he stood up to let her in.**

"The end of this chapter," Remus said, closing the book. "Who's next?"

"I will," Lily volunteered, taking the book and turning the page.


End file.
